Touching the Pacific

Seabright Beach, Santa Cruz

By Kimberly Maroon

So this is the other ocean.

My first weekend in California and I drove to Santa Cruz to see the beach. It was here at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz that I met the Pacific Ocean. The ocean here smells just like it’s supposed to smell—clean and salty. And it is COLD! I stepped right in, then of course my jeans were soaked up to my knees and my toes went numb. Still, it was not as cold as the water in Maine.

I found a cave under a huge rock formation on the beach. Cut away on both sides, you could peek through to the boardwalk amusements and wade across to the beach or stay hidden and watch how the rock cut away at the sky. I was amazed at how wide the beach was and how you had to climb down a cliff to get to it.