Remote Surveillance Trailer in Santa Cruz, CA

The Slugs continue their dominant march through the season with their first tournament win.

Ultiworld’s 2026 college coverage is presented by Spin Ultimate; all opinions are those of the author(s). Find out how Spin can get you, and your team, looking your best this season.

#5 California-Santa Cruz Slugs and #19 British Columbia Thunderbirds met in a Southwest versus Northwest clash in the final of this season’s Stanford Invite. UC Santa Cruz won 13-10, leaving the tournament undefeated and cementing their status as one of the division’s top teams.

The Slugs got a break to go up 4-3 and flip the on-serve advantage midway through the first half. Prior to that point, both offenses were operating comfortably. UCSC’s Toby Warren and Cole Mires were trading midfield OIIOs to the soft space in their split stack offense while UBC’s Rex Yuen was putting up huck bombs to Miles Wong for the Thunderbirds.

Eventually the hucks stopped falling; UCSC broke to take half after a deep look to Justin Podnar drifted too far. Mires crossed over and paddled the counterattack all the way up the field for the score to make it 7-5.

With a multi-goal cushion, Mires and Warren were able to direct the Slugs offense to the end zone time and time again. Warren laid out to reel in a huck from Gabe Schwartz-Ketchner to end the game.

https://streamable.com/6om42v

Even without center handler Selim Jones (elbow injury) or initiating cutter Milan Moslehi (knee injury), the Slugs offense did not look even a step behind. Several players stepped up, none more than Nirel Barthelom whose growth this season should put him in our conversation for Breakout Player of the Year.

The Slugs were not troubled before the final, with their closest wins matching 13-8 victories over Illinois and San Diego State. After runs to the semifinals of Santa Barbara Invite, Presidents’ Day Invite, and Smoky Mountain Invite, the Slugs not only made their first tournament final of the season, but won the whole thing.

With #6 Cal Poly SLO winning Northwest Challenge last week, and generally looking more competitive than they did in the early part of the season, the Slugs now have their own tournament win to boost their confidence ahead of a Regionals showdown next month.

Ultiworld filmed seven games from the tournament; check out our event page below to rewatch all the weekend’s action.

SANTA CRUZ — The ongoing debate over a state plan to construct a 36-foot underground tunnel below the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to carry water to a reservoir in Alameda County has now been given the novelization treatment.

Santa Cruz author Victoria Tatum, who swam in the Delta in her youth, tells a fictional story of a farmworker family’s fight over the tunnels in “More Than Any River.” The book will be published March 24, the same day Tatum will be hosting a joint event with Joe Ortiz of Gayle’s Bakery & Rosticceria on the two primary forms of sustenance: food and water.

Tatum has been writing since she was a kid, having primarily written poems. As an adult, she has mostly written fiction, including the 2006 novel “The Virgin’s Children.”

“Writing is just a great calming, centering exercise,” she said.

For “More Than Any River,” Tatum was inspired by her high school years of sailing with her best friend’s family from San Francisco to the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta where they docked on an island to hang out.

“We’d jump off the bow of the boat to cool off because it’s very hot in the Central Valley,” she said. “I found out decades later that that water is no longer safe for swimming, and I wanted to know why.”

Tatum’s research led her to a San Francisco Chronicle article that explained the situation and she explored more from there. As far back as the ’40s, there had been discussions of constructing underground tunnels to divert water from the Sacramento River to the San Joaquin Delta to offset drought impacts. These plans came to fruition when Gov. Jerry Brown began his second stint as governor in 2011 and laid the groundwork for what became known as the California Water Fix project. The project aimed to construct a pair of tunnels that would run water to the Clifton Court Forebay southwest of Stockton.

While Brown and the California Department of Water Resources touted the project’s ability to adapt to climate change and provide a more consistent water supply, critics took issue with the $20 billion price tag and potential environmental impacts. The initial proposal was withdrawn in 2019, but a new iteration of the project — now called the Delta Conveyance Project — consisting of just one tunnel diverting water to the Bethany Reservoir near Livermore is currently in the advanced planning and environmental permitting stage.

Tatum spent 10 years researching the issue and California water stories, which she said she got really deep into.

“For me, the hardest part was translating nonfiction into compelling fiction,” she said. “I read a lot of books on water, but all of them were nonfiction. Ultimately, I had people who read it help me focus on the main conflict in the story, and I had to cut out a lot of things, which was painful, but in the end, I think it made for a better book.”

A lot of the books Tatum read on the Delta Conveyance Project were written by Mark Arax, who most recently served as the ghostwriter for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s autobiography “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery,” which she said made for a fun research experience.

“I was an English major in college and got a master’s in English and creative writing, and through researching the novel, I really had to get into the science and I really enjoyed that,” she said.

Tatum said she emerged as “a water nerd” by the end of the research. “More Than Any River” focuses on farming families along the Delta standing their ground against the agribusiness owners of the Delta tunnel project.

Overall, Tatum hopes readers will come away with a clearer understanding of the Delta Conveyance Project and its potential impacts.

“I hope readers will take away what a bad idea it is to build the tunnels under the Delta and maybe become activists, for that not to happen,” she said. “If it happens anyway, I would say that my book is a microcosm of what’s happening with water and agriculture worldwide.”

Tatum will be taking part in a double author event with Joe Ortiz, who will be discussing his recently published memoir “Pastina,” about his childhood of growing up in Queens and how his mother’s cooking got him through his father’s misfortunes. The event, titled “Food and Water: Two Visions of Sustenance,” will be moderated by Joe Ortiz’s wife, Gayle Ortiz, who co-owns Gayle’s Bakery. The event is 7 p.m. March 24 at Bookshop Santa Cruz, 1520 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. To RSVP, go to BookshopSantaCruz.com/food-and-water.

“More Than Any River” will be on sale at local bookstores starting March 24 and is currently available for preorder at VTatum.com.

Santa Cruz, at the northern end of Monterey Bay on California's Central Coast, has been a destination for tourists since the late 1800s. And even today, there's still a plethora of places that draw tourists to this coastal city. There's the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, famous for its historic and high-adrenaline rides, and the nearby Santa Cruz Wharf with its tasty restaurants and views of Monterey Bay. There are quirky destinations like The Mystery Spot, along with beautiful beaches and redwood forests to explore.

All those major tourist attractions can definitely be well worth visiting. But there are other, more under-the-radar places that I came to prefer and fell in love with after living in Santa Cruz for over 10 years. Narrowing down the best of the best in a place that's rich with natural beauty and culture was a challenge, but after consulting friends in Santa Cruz along with social media and travel blogs, these five places made the list (with a couple of honorable mentions).

If you're going to be flying in for your Santa Cruz trip, the closest airport is the San José Mineta International Airport (SJC); it's about a 45-minute drive if the traffic is light. And it's about 90 minutes south of San Francisco International Airport. You can arrange shuttle service or get a rideshare from SJC or even from San Francisco, but you'll likely want to have a car when you're exploring Santa Cruz. Even though there is public transportation, a car gives you a lot more freedom. Some people make Santa Cruz a day trip from San Francisco. But to see all five of these spots and really appreciate them, you'll probably want to stay at least a night or two.

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History

The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, aka The MAH, is in downtown. You'll know you're here when you see the suspended red marine buoys hanging outside in an exhibit called "Beacons." Inside, you can see a rotating set of exhibits over three floors that highlight regional history and culture. To get a flavor of what types of things are on display, some of the 2026 exhibits include "High Score: Vintage Arcade Games from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk", "Surf Live Oak", and "Honoring Our Relatives: Amah Mutsun Botanical Illustrations." There's also a permanent rooftop sculpture garden and history gallery. And for Instagram's @kathleenfitz, who's lived in Santa Cruz for nearly two decades, a perfect day in the city requires a visit to The MAH, per Visit Santa Cruz.

It's $10 for general admission, and the museum is free on First Friday, an event throughout Santa Cruz that promotes local art. After wandering through the exhibits, you can eat at the Abbott Square Market, which is a part of the museum's public plaza. It has multiple restaurants, and it often hosts live music and other events, like trivia and comedy.

The MAH also manages the Evergreen Cemetery, which is an honorable mention for the best under-the-radar spot. It dates back to 1858, making it one of the state's oldest public cemeteries. It's free to visit, and you can take a self-guided tour to see the gravesites of notable early Santa Cruzans, like Belle Dormer, a gold prospector and journalist, and London Nelson, a former slave who settled here in the 1850s and was one of just two Black residents at the time.

Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Seymour Marine Discovery Center is a working marine laboratory for the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), and it's open for visitors to discover more about Monterey Bay and the marine research being done at UCSC. Beyond the educational aspect, it's right on the cliffs above the ocean, so it's got great views. One of the iconic symbols of the Seymour Center is Ms. Blue, an 87-foot-long blue whale skeleton that washed up on shore in Pescadero and has been on display since 1985. She's currently being restored with some high-tech 3D printing, and her return is being eagerly awaited, according to Santa Cruz Works.

Even without Ms. Blue on display, the center is a fun visit. You can get an up-close look at some of Monterey Bay's animals, like an octopus and sharks, and there are some touch pools where you can feel creatures like sea stars and hermit crabs. It's $12 for adult general admission. One Redditor said, "[it's] not [to] be compared with a visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium (also a must), but right here in town, and pretty cool for what it is, especially if you love nature." On Yelp, a Santa Cruzan wrote: "If you are looking for a place to take out of town guests, this is the spot! All age[s] enjoy exploring the center, learning about the bay's marine life."

Another honorable mention where you can learn more about Monterey Bay is the Sanctuary Exploration Center near the Wharf. It's free to visit, and while it doesn't have the live animals that you can find at Seymour, it has interactive exhibits and short films that teach you about the wonder of the ecosystems right offshore.

Arana Gulch

Arana Gulch is a 63-acre park in Midtown above the Santa Cruz Harbor. As you walk along the few miles of trails here, it feels as though you have almost left the city altogether, passing through fields of wildflowers in spring and beneath the gnarled limbs of the massive live oaks. And there are benches where you can relax and take in the views out over the Upper Harbor. In short, as one Redditor noted, "Arana Gulch is a treasure."

You can't find many more coastal terrace prairies like it, according to Good Times. You can sometimes see cattle grazing here; they're a part of a plan to protect the endangered Santa Cruz tarplant. The cattle munch on the non-native grasses to help give the tarplants more room to grow. You may be able to see their yellow blooms around June. The gulch area is also home to all kinds of wildlife, and it's a fun place for birding. Keep an eye out for herons along the water and raptors in the open prairie spaces.

If you're up for a longer exploration of this part of Santa Cruz, the Arana Gulch trail connects to the sidewalk that runs along the length of the harbor and out to the Walton Lighthouse. Keep an eye on the water for harbor seals as you go.

Natural Bridges State Beach

Visiting Natural Bridges State Beach is one of the best things for tourists to do in Santa Cruz. It can be busy on a warm weekend, but if you go on a weekday morning, you could practically have the place to yourself. The standout feature at this locally loved beach is the natural rock arch right at the edge of the shore. And if you time your visit for low tide, the tidepooling up along the rocks just above the sandy beach often has sea stars and sea anemones in abundance. It's sometimes possible to walk to the other side of the arch at very low tide; just pay attention to your timing, as you don't want to get caught there when the water rises.

Make a day of it by bringing a picnic to enjoy right on the beach. There are also picnic tables beneath the pine and eucalyptus trees near the visitor center. And each February, the center hosts the Migration Festival; it's a free, family-friendly event that celebrates all the animals that migrate through this area. That includes monarch butterflies.

If you're visiting from around mid-October through mid-February, you may be able to see the overwintering butterflies in the hundreds to thousands in the protected eucalyptus grove at Natural Bridges. Each year is different when it comes to butterfly count, but Natural Bridges has consistently been a great place to see them. And it's quite the sight. A Redditor, who lived in Santa Cruz for 20 years, said that when you go during migration season, "the trees look like their leaves became butterflies." And when it gets above about 55 degrees Fahrenheit, the butterflies will start to fly.

Neary Lagoon Park

The 44-acre Neary Lagoon Park is just a mile from the often bustling Beach Boardwalk, but as one Yelp reviewer pointed out, it "feels a million miles away from [the] city."

This peaceful escape features a mile-long floating walkway that lets you safely explore the 14 acres of freshwater marsh. Pro tip: bring binoculars — birders like it here because you can see a variety of species, like black-crowned night herons, marsh wrens, wood ducks, and purple finches. It's also habitat for the western pond turtle, the only native freshwater turtle in the state. Along with wildlife spotting, the park has a playground, tennis courts, a pollinator garden, and barbecue pits.

Santa Cruz is known for its accessible natural spaces, like Neary Lagoon, which can be enjoyed pretty much year round. Temperatures rarely go above the mid 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and while it can get rainy and chilly in winter with highs in the low 50s, all you need are the right layers to get outside. You can be birdwatching in a light jacket while much of the rest of the country is buried in snow.

Methodology

I lived in Santa Cruz for over 10 years, and I know that in the eyes of some who grew up there, I might not be considered a real local. However, I combined my own expertise with that of friends who've been there even longer than I have. I also combed the internet, including Reddit, social media, and local travel blogs, to pick out five of the most fantastic under-the-radar spots that the everyday Santa Cruz tourist might not know about, but that they would likely have fun exploring. Then there's the fact that "best" can be a relative term, so I went with places that received multiple recommendations. And while Santa Cruz has some excellent restaurants, I kept it focused on activities and destinations that help provide a unique perspective on what makes Santa Cruz so special.

BOULDER CREEK >> Cathy Hoeft stood on her patio on a cloudy day in late January – she was anxious. The ground outside was still slick with moisture from the New Years Eve rain storm that soaked all of the Bay Area for days. Outside, she watched a crew of workers as they cut down trees on the slope across the creek from her Lompico home. With every felled tree, Hoeft couldn’t help but ruminate about what might happen to the land and, subsequently, her home.

The trees’ roots hold the mountainside together, she said, and in heavy rain, the steep slope has been known to give way to landslides, destabilizing the ground beside her and her two neighbors’ homes. Over the years, landslides have pushed the creek closer to the dirt road that connects the three houses. As the creek moves, it erodes the road, threatening to leave all three stranded.

Hoeft is one of many San Lorenzo Valley residents growing frustrated with Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s vegetation management program, which aims to reduce wildfire risks by trimming or removing trees near power lines. In addition to concerns about erosion and environmental damage, residents described redwood trees felled by mistake, a lack of notice from PG&E prior to cutting trees on private property and challenges holding the company accountable for property damage.

“They do their inspections and say ‘OK we’re done here,’ but then a year or two years from now, we have a hard winter, and the damage that they’ve done is left for those of us who are still here,” Hoeft said.

Last week, a community meeting with representatives of PG&E was dominated by discussion on wildfire management and tree work.

“Our community is still trying to figure out the balance between living in the forest and living in a world where fire season is potentially all year long,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Monica Martinez, who hosted the forum. “Some people are uncomfortable with most tree removal efforts. However, fuel breaks and clear evacuation routes aren’t going to be possible without some amount of compromise.”

PG&E ramped up its vegetation management program in 2019 following the devastating Camp Fire in Butte County, which was ignited by a downed power line. The California Public Utilities Commission lists most of the San Lorenzo Valley as a Tier 3 “Extreme” fire threat region.

Jeremy Howard, PG&E’s regional senior manager covering the Central Coast region, said at the meeting that last year the company inspected about 2,500 miles of power lines in Santa Cruz County and trimmed or cut more than 67,000 trees every year.

Ben Lomond resident Kristen Sandel said she wasn’t notified when PG&E came to remove 15 trees from her property, including six redwood trees that she was later told were erroneously cut down.

“One of the things that troubles me is that, as rate payers, I feel like we’re all in a sense paying PG&E to come and do this to our trees without permission and with very little recourse,” Sandel said.

State laws mandate that though the property owner’s consent isn’t required, PG&E must notify residents of planned tree work.

Sandel, who co-chairs the Valley Women’s Club of San Lorenzo Valley’s environmental committee, said she’s hesitant to file a claim with PG&E about the erroneously cut trees, because she’s heard from multiple people whose claims have been denied.

Some of these concerns were raised at the March 2 community meeting, including questions about ensuring communication with residents.

“When we prune 67,000 trees here in Santa Cruz County, we’re bound to make a mistake, we’re not perfect,” Howard said at the community meeting. “But we have a standard, and we want to adhere to that standard.”

Hoeft, the Lompico resident, said crews left several logs on the slope near her home and she’s worried about them rolling into the creek and disrupting steelhead trout.

PG&E spokesperson Stephanie Magallon said the utility contracts certified arborists and that every project is reviewed by biological, cultural and environmental specialists. She said the specialists have not reported any evidence of erosion or impacts to nearby creeks.

Magallon encouraged residents to reach out to the utility’s vegetation customer engagement team with questions and concerns. Property owners can also submit property damage claims online.

Vegetation management isn’t PG&E’s only wildfire management strategy. Magallon said the utility has moved more than 1,210 miles of powerlines underground and is on track to more than double that by the end of 2027. She said there are plans to underground 1 mile of powerlines in Davenport and additional projects are being evaluated in the Santa Cruz Mountains, but the utility weighs various environmental factors with undergrounding, such as terrain and weather patterns.

The company rebuilt more than 20 miles of hardened powerlines in the area burned by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, and added 20 miles of hardened lines in Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Rio Del Mar and other neighborhoods throughout the county.

Lompico resident Tim Tonsing said he wants to see system improvements in his neighborhood soon, rather than more tree work.

He said the area’s infrastructure is aging, and pointed out a power pole at Carrol Avenue and Lake Boulevard that’s been marked for replacement since April 2020.

Tonsing said system hardening like covering conductor lines could be a good option for the area.

Tonsing also said he doesn’t think PG&E’s vegetation management plan will limit wildfire risks without other system work. He’s had multiple fire scares in his over 40 years of living in Lompico and Felton, when PG&E’s bare powerlines have snapped in heavy winds.

“Copper wires are what start fires, not trees,” Tonsing said. “They try to make it seem like the trees are dangerous, and I always tell them I’ve never seen a tree playing with matches yet.”

I felt this quake

A light magnitude 2.5 earthquake hit 35 km (22 mi) away from Salinas, California, United States, in the early morning of Saturday, Mar 7, 2026 at 5.22 am local time (GMT -8). The quake had a very shallow depth of 4.8 km (3 mi) and was felt by many near the epicenter.

Weak magnitude 2.5 earthquake at 5 km depth

Earthquake details

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Watsonville, a town with 54,000 inhabitants in the United States, in 8.9 km (5.5 mi) distance southeast of the epicenter. People likely experienced very weak shaking there. Several smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking.The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

User-reports for this quake (7)

The first report about ground shaking reached us after only 2 minutes, before other agencies reported it. So far, we have received 7 reports for this quake from the United States. The quake was reported to have been felt in up to approx. 7.8–9 km (4.8–5.6 mi) distance.

Most reports came from Watsonville (5 reports), a town with 54,000 inhabitants in California in 8.9 km (5.5 mi) distance southeast of the epicenter, United States, and Rio Del Mar (2 reports) (5.5 km or 3.4 mi to the west), a town with 9,200 inhabitants. Further below is a list of places where most people reported this quake. This section is being updated as new data comes in.

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Corralitos, CA (8.8 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single vertical bump / 1-2 s

Watsonville Ca (9 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / single lateral shake / very short

Watsonville / La Selva Beach (2.8 km SW of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV) / rattling, vibrating / 2-5 s

Seascape (5.4 km WNW of epicenter) [Map] / Very weak shaking (MMI II) / 1-2 s

Watsonville (8.9 km ESE of epicenter) [Map] / Light shaking (MMI IV)

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.Read more about the MMI scale!

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If you were near the epicenter and felt it, please share your experience and submit a short "I felt it" report! Other users would love to hear about it!If you did NOT feel the quake although you were in the area, please report it as well! Your contribution is valuable to earthquake science and seismic hazard analysis.

Compare Quake Data

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Based on data from the past 56 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 2,300 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 9 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 10 to 15 years.

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

The earthquake occurred 5 days after a magnitude 3.4 earthquake had hit on Monday, Mar 2, 2026, at 07:17 am (GMT -8 local time) in 68 km (42 mi) distance to the southeast: The largest quake near the epicenter of this quake during the 10 years before was an event of magnitude 5.0. It had occurred 3 years earlier, on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022, at 11:42 am local time (America/Los Angeles GMT -7) in California, United States: The strongest-ever (since 1900) recorded quake in this area measured magnitude 7.9. It had occurred 120 years ago earlier, on Wednesday, Apr 18, 1906, at 01:12 pm local time (Universal Time GMT +0) in California, United States: Below is a list and map of larger or recent quakes that had occurred near the epicenter before this earthquake (within up to 100 km/61 mi distance, up to 300 km/183 mi for very large quakes above mag. 7). Filter and sort the list by magnitude or time.

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Oldest quakes are shown in yellow, most recent in red.

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