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During my trip around the world, I decided to make an extended stay in Santa Cruz, California after hearing of The Surf Office, one of the coolest places for a digital nomad like myself to reside. There, you can surf, eat, sleep and work all in one place. An incredible place in its own right, the Surf Office taught me a lot, but while I was there, the city of Santa Cruz itself had a special attraction only understood by the people who live there.
Santa Cruz is at the intersection of Western culture, Eastern culture, and surf culture, with a generous remanence of the hippy movement. All the while, being surrounded by beautiful nature and great surf. It all creates a bubble in which people can freely express themselves without limits. It’s simply a wonderful city. Here are 8 reasons why Santa Cruz is an awesome place to live:
1. Surf
Steamer Lane doing its thing. Photo: LocalWiki
Santa Cruz is definitely a great city for surf, and it has been named as one of World’s 20 Best Surf Towns by National Geographic. There are a few great spots in town, including Steamer Lane on the Westside, and my personal favorite, Pleasure Point on the Eastside. There are several spots around the city, but you have to be willing to do some exploring.
2. Jack O’Neill
The legend and inventor of the wetsuit himself.
At Pleasure Point, you can see a house in the center of the rock in front of the beach. That’s Jack O’Neill’s. The founder of the brand O’Neill and inventor of the wetsuit, Jack is an absolute legend of the town. His invention changed the world of water sports for good. His son invented the surfboard leash, which, with an unfortunate trick of destiny, was the reason why Jack lost an eye.
3. Yoga
Seems like everyone in this town has a mean downward dog. Photo: Hannah Bickle
Yoga is just everywhere in Santa Cruz. This is really good if you want to try different styles of yoga, including tri yoga, hot yoga, Kundalini, Hatha, Vinyasa, and many others. My personal favorite studio is DiviniTree, which provides an all-in-one formula. It’s a perfect choice in testing the different types of practices.
4. Meditation
Escape the stresses of the day with a little meditation. Photo: Hannah Bickle
There are plenty of opportunities to practice meditation. The landscape suits it all too well. Derived from Buddhism, mindfulness meditation is one of the most popular practices. It’s the idea of being fully in the moment and enjoying more of each thing you do in your life. To do so, you just have to close your eyes and focus on your breathing, calming the agitations your mind might have. Clinical studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness, which, in turn, leads to less stress and more happiness. I went to Insight, a place where you can practice Buddhist meditation. You don’t have to subscribe to it, but you can give a donation to support the teacher and the studio.
5. Food
Buy fresh, oragnic, GMO-free food from a variety of markets around town.
Santa Cruz is all is about quality of life, especially when it comes to the food. Organic, non-GMO, and gluten-free. You name it, we have it. Half of the supermarkets are pro-organic and anti-GMO, and New Leaf market is just one leader in this field. Even in smaller shops, organic products are everywhere. You can also find farmers markets to buy vegetables and fruits. Thanks to the omnipresent sunshine, plants grow very easily in gardens. This allows people to grow their own vegetables and fruits, which is an ideal practice in seeking to minimize our carbon footprint.
Here are some great products I discovered while living here:
Kombucha: a fermented tea that has a variety of health benefits.
Chia seeds: great source of healthy omega-3 fats and fibers.
Coconut butter: it has a variety of uses, but commonly used as a butter/margarine/oil substitute.
6. Nature
One of the few, pure, and untouched stretches of coastlines in California.
The nature here is extremely grandiose and powerful. The ocean, the waves, the amazing sunsets, and the fauna are incredible. Santa Cruz is located in the Monterey Bay, which is a protected marine sanctuary. Everyday you can see sea lions, otters, pelicans, seagulls, dolphins, and whales. With its impressive cliffs, canyons and rivers, Big Sur to the south is an absolute must-see. If you have time to go to Esalen Institute, it’s more than worth it. And if you love camping, you will love Santa Cruz.
7. New Age
New Age can be understood as Jesus and Buddha being on the stage at Woodstock, as the mix of Eastern and Western spirituality infuses in the hippy culture. This movement is very strong in Santa Cruz. Wikipedia refers to New Age as a “religious or spiritual movement that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Its central precepts have been described as ‘drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational psychology’.”
8. Startups and Coworking
The Surf Office. Eat, sleep, work, and surf. Photo: Surf Office
The startup scene is really dynamic here. Most of the companies I met were into green technologies and totally coherent with Santa Cruz’s mindset. If you need to work remotely, you will have no issues finding a place to work with reliable Internet. There are several co-working places, including NextSpace, Cruzioworks, and The Surf Office, which also includes housing. You can also find dozens of cafes with reliable Internet, including Lulu Carpenter’s, Caffe Pergolesi, The Abbey, The Verve, Peoples Coffee, and Firefly.
In conclusion, Santa Cruz totally changed my life. The open-mindness of the people, nature, and the spiritual dimension helped me find my true self and opened the way for me to reach my full potential. To me, California seems like one of the most cutting edge places in the world, as it combines technology, innovation, impressive natural ecosystems, respect of nature, quality of food, and new ways of thinking, which are all part of building an amazing quality of life.
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