Twin Lakes State Beach — Attraction in Live Oak

I'm posting this to pass along good info about Twin Lakes for folks visiting from out of the area as an employee for the Parks system.

TIPS FOR TWIN LAKES:

Twin Lakes is open 8 am until 10 pm daily year round.

There is no official parking, although the official Harbor parking is within walking distance. We recommend big groups park at the Harbor, which is good for the Port District and provides a safe place for your vehicle.

Twin Lakes has 7 year round fire rings. 11 more are at Seabright, which is a subunit of Twin Lakes and is at the other side of the Harbor. Fire rings are first come, first serve; please plan accordingly. We recommend arriving about 8-9am for a day bonfire, and 4-5 pm for an evening bonfire, as the day folks leave about that point. Please do not burn any pressure treated wood. You can, however, pick up driftwood on the beach for your fires while at both Twin Lakes and Seabright.

No alcohol is allowed at Twin Lakes or Seabright. Glass is also not permitted on state beaches in general due to safety concerns. Make sure to keep drinks in cans or plastic (there are recycling trash cans available). However, tables, pop up tents, music at a reasonable sound level, games, etc, are allowed.

There are bathrooms with flush toilets at both Twin Lakes and Seabright main entrances. There are porta potties at the Black's Beach/ 14th Avenue entrance to Twin Lakes.

Food is nearby both Twin Lakes and Seabright. Check out the Crow's Nest if you're at Twin Lakes, or Aldo's if you're at Seabright! Also, feel free to check out the rest of the Harbor, which is totally neat. Seabright has a neat Jetty with Walton Lighthouse - great photo spot!

Have fun...

Came here by chance just driving by. Usually, we go to the beach by the Broadwalk park for the kids to ride the rides. This is better and cleaner. It's a smaller beach and parking here is premium in different spots. You just have to be lucky. Came here late in the afternoon on a Sunday. There is a bathroom to use but it's a public bathroom…what more can I say?

Park hours is open from 6a -10p and there are lifeguards on duty. The beach offers fire pits to use but you have to provide the wood. I thought that's pretty cool. I would definitely come back to hang out with friends and family for a picnic. Let's make the beach clean! I saw some trash that should be in the garbage. The sand is nice, soft and warm. I can see it can be crowded here. Found out this beach was renovated back in 2018. There are some neat shells, rocks and live sea life on the beach so be careful. It's...

Again, I kind of don't want to tell people about this place, or it might become too popular! So I'll say all the bad things first. It can smell -BAD- when it storms and when they are doing some kind of dredging from the harbor. There used to be more sea life. It's not the fault of the beach. This is a consequence of humans.

This is the entrance of the Santa Cruz Harbor. Thus, lots of boating. The lighthouse is very scenic. Outrigger Santa Cruz has their base here if you want to partake in some Aloha rowing. They have Wednesday races which are fun to watch or often boats will need crew members.

I call this "My Beach". Santa Cruz calls it "Bonfire Beach" as it's one of the few places in Santa Cruz County to have a bonfire.

Nice restaurants and snackshops nearby. Beach volleyball available. Parking for a fee. It's an ideal beach, so just let the...