Moved to Santa Cruz, where is the close and best place to ride and store your boat?
 

Hey guys I move to Santa Cruz from Bakersfield and trying to figure out where to put my boat and what lakes are close. I'm guessing that the Delta is going to be the closes to here, but would love to know if there was some where closer. I also need a place to store my boat close to where ever I may put in the water at.
Thanks Adam

Anderson and Calero are closest to you. They can be good during slow times. The delta will off the best water at busy times.

Santa Cruz - a long way from fresh water :) I am in Mountain View - I spend most of my time on the Delta, Lake Tulloch and New Melones. Anderson is small and has a 100 boat limit/waiting list - don't go there very often.

I keep my boat at www.storeinside.com in Milpitas. I would assume that is not your best option. Of the people who frequent the delta they keep their boats at Discovery Bay Marina. Semi-covered dry dock - not for me for a variety of reasons.

The nice thing about Milpitas is that it is on the way to all bodies of water from our locations except for Anderson.

If you like to jump around on diff. lakes keep it at home. We like to go south to Nacimento or san antonio lake sometimes(during the week). About 2-2 1/2 hrs from S.C.. Or hit Don Pedro. Its a large lake and there is storage right outside the gates. If you dont mind the alge you can hit San luis res. or the forebay. Maybe 1 1/2 hrs from your location. P.M. me if ya have any questions.

Last I checked, Anderson and Calero require appointments ($6 each) to be made if you want to put your boat in between 8AM and noon on weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day. After noon, they get crowded (up to the limit) and Anderson tends to get windy.

Santa Cruz is a tough place to have a ski/wake boat because you have to haul it over the hill to get to most of the larger lakes & Delta. Naci/San Antonio might be better options if you can do 1 to 156 to 101, but it's still a long trek down Hwy 1.

I lived in Aptos for 10 years. I kept my boat at my house for awhile but it wasn't worth it. Anderson is not worth it IMO. You can get fairly uncrowded conditions during the week but it is typically windy and I never got good water. Just a few boats on that small lake ruins the water. Forget about it on the weekends. Any good water is at least 2-3 hours from Santa Cruz.

I kept my boat in Turlock and picked it up there on my way to the many larger lakes in that area. I would suggest considering something similar if you want to get some good water and save money towing your boat long distances.

Nice move for surfing though, if you're into that. Just get used to battling for waves.

Try a storage at the delta like Whiskey slough or discovery bay for dry stack storage. Drive your Small car to your boat instead of hauling it around with your truck and the gas savings will pay for the storage. The only draw back is your stuck skiing the best water in Cali or maybe the world

Thank you for all the info. Going to be looking up on the delta for sure. I have never been to Orwood or Discovery bay on the delta, but going to give it a shot. I spent 6 months staying at Tower Park for a job near by there.

Nothing close in SC for a quick run. Everything is at least 2-3 hours away for anything decent. Anderson, Coyote and Calero are about 1 hour away and are over in Gilroy and Morgan Hill area. Anderson is the better of the three by far. Not worth going to unless it is a weekday. No storage in town, Scottsvalley has RV/Boat storage, but it is outdoors. Morgan Hill/Anderson Lake might have boat storage nearby it might be worth looking into. I live in Santa Cruz (Soquel) but I store my boat in my garage or at our lake house in the summer. The Delta is your best bet, but you have to like the Delta. There is boat storage by Don Pedro and Lake Tulloch it runs about $100 a month, but again it is 2.5 hours away.