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Regions
East Coast:
North Florida (also known at Florida’s First Coast) has a wealth of surfing opportunities, despite the changeable seasons. This part of Florida has a reputation for consistent surf, and known for its white sand. Drive down Florida’s Route A1A, and you will be presented with one surfing opportunity after another. Jacksonville is home to many a surfing contest and a close-knit surfing community, and Jacksonville Pier offers breaks on any swell. The Mayport Poles, with favorable conditions, give way to speedy rights and lefts and attract an abundance of surfers. The oldest city in the United States, St. Augustine, is also known as a substantial surfing location in North Florida, with plenty of surf accommodations. Across the Intracoastal Waterway, Anastasia Island has breaks named Blowhole, Middles, and Lighthouse. Daytona Beach, a hot spot for spring break surfers, is the location of the high-ranking breaks at Ponce Inlet and the less crowded, younger-set favorite Sunglow Pier. Even surf fishing is a year-round sport in Daytona Beach.
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Central Florida can be considered to contain the transitional weather from wetsuit to swimsuit. Cape Canaveral starts off the Space Coast in the north with restricted waters around the Kennedy Space Center; the surfers here are mainly families of astronauts. But Playalinda, to the north, does naturally have rocket views available while surfing. Cocoa Beach is the location of many Florida/East Coast surfing professionals and the infamous main location of Ron Jon Surf Shop, as well as great surfing with less crowding from many street access points. South Patrick sports a number of surf areas amidst the Patrick Air Force Base, with some appropriately named break areas such as First and Second Light, Missiles, and Hangars. The breaks at Satellite Beach slightly follow a business-naming scheme; Perkins is known for surf consistency, while swells flourish at R.C.’s in front of a Ramada Inn. The residential area of Melbourne Beach can cater to the local scene and amateur surfing competitions. Sebastian Inlet is by far Florida’s most famous break. It is comprised of the First, Second, and Third Peaks, where many a pro has surfed.
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South Florida is home to the Gold Coast, complete with warm weather and warm surfing waters year-round. The Jupiter area offers a variety of surfing adventures, from the rocky reef bottom of the Poles, to the best-at-low-tides Jupiter Inlet, to Corners with powerful breaks at mid-tide, to the small swells at Reef Club. At Juno Beach, one can find local surfers enjoying beach breaks at North Roads and powerful left breaks at Double Roads. A variety of surfing challenges exist in the Palm Beach area, such as low-tide long and steep rights at Pump House, the triannual big breaks at Peanut Island, the awe-inspiring Reef Road waves, and dealing with the distinct personality of the local scene. Lake Worth is heavily “guarded” by locals but does provide good waves around the sandbar in front of the Blackwall seawall at Lake Worth Pier. Boca Raton has an unusually equal sandbar to reef ratio. An annual surfing contest sponsored by the Easter Surfing Association is located at Commercial Pier (also known as Anglin’s) in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. Outside of the Dania Pier (with a 100-foot surf-free zone), a coral reef runs and on the north side, a sandbar helps with windswells. In the Miami Beach area, there are several surfing spots, most noteworthy being at South Beach. South Beach can experience breaking on certain swells that skip the balance of the coast.
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West Coast:
The Florida Panhandle is a great example of surfing without an ocean, since the Gulf of Mexico is deep enough off the Panhandle coast to allow wind swell to create waves of good size. Panhandle surfers truly benefit from bad weather; the cold fronts, tropical storms, and hurricanes produce the best waves. A Florida Panhandle area where, strangely, the beach break forms again as the beach nears is located at Bungalows inside Perdido Key State Park. Pensacola Beach, the start of surfing popularity on the Gulf Coast, is home to a number of surf areas, including The Bay with its unpredictable break history, the reasonable beach break of the Pensacola Pier Parking Lot, left after hurricane damage, and the seasonal beach breaks of 12th-17th Street. Navarre Pier is a very attractive pier break area for surfers, with consistent conditions, and laidback locals. NCO/West Jetty is known for swell minus heavy drifting, and a number of waves from the West Jetty to the NCO Beach Club, while East Jetty waves have been compared to those at Malibu. Whale’s Tail is a restaurant that enjoys a beach break best in summer. The Spring Break location on the Gulf Coast, Panama City Beach, has a substantial variety of breaks. The visually beautiful Shell Island access is not easy, but the peak is very powerful, and wave formation quality is quite tide-dependent. Watch out for the sharks at Cape San Blas, best at light, outgoing tide.
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Florida’s Gulf Coast surfing (south of the Panhandle) experienced a slower growth than on the Florida East Coast, resulting in an average surfer age difference between the coasts. Wave power is notable here, where both height and quantity of waves suffer. Swells arrive unpredictably, and for a short while, so keep surf equipment handy. Surfers have benefited from the Gulf surfing, since it has produced more aggressive surfing styles. Clearwater has a sizeable number of surfers, and Indian Rocks Beach has some of the consistent surf of the Gulf, and is home to professional surfers Shea and Cory Lopez. The Upham Beach Park surf area, around the St. Petersburg area, can produce long rides and is especially good for longboarders. Holmes Beach and the Bradenton area is a very popular surfing location because of the south swells and hurricane possibilities. South of Lido Beach offers an outgoing tide experience when the waves have picked up. North Jetty and South Jetty provide the best surfing on the southwest Florida coast, with North Jetty holding big waves, and South Jetty containing a solid beach break. Naples Pier is home to the overall area’s most consistent breaks, and the south side produces longer, and mushy waves.
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The Florida Keys have a sharply contrasted main surf thrust to the balance of Florida, where both wakeboarding, windsurfing and kiteboarding are the most popular water sport activities. Instruction is available in these surf-related sports on the Keys.
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