Anyone recommend Cocoa Beach?

[JohnMcLane]

We're thinking of spending a day at the beach on our upcoming trip. We usually go to the Gulf side but were thinking about Cocoa Beach for a change of pace. Anyone have any thoughts on whether this is a good idea?

 

[eleanor]

We enjoyed CB very much. There is a long beach there and you take the beeline over about 45 minto 1hr. I think.

 

[Toad]

I was disapointed with Cocoa Beach when we were there last (about 2 years ago). The beach just seemd dirty. It probably didn't help that I stung by something - don't know what it was but it was gooey-looking and blue. My foot ached for days. The plus to Cocoa Beach on the other hand is the proximity to Kennedy Space Centre, which we love.

 

[CharlesTD]

We have been there in Dec it was not to bad but it was pretty cool so we didn't really get to play in ythe water or anything but our family would reccomend it.

 

[striker3636]

We spent a few hours there a few weeks ago and had a great time. While the water was pretty chilly, we all had fun playing in the sand, walking along the water, looking for shells, etc. We thought the beach was nice and I didn't notice much garbage or anything else negative. We also made the run up to the Space Centre afterwards. Makes for a nice day.

 

[CharlesTD]

We took a flashlight and walked on the beach at night to find ghost crabs the kids loved that it was great.

 

[JohnMcLane]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think we'll give it a try. I'll post a review in my trip report.

 

[ChisJo]

I was incredibly disappointed with Cocoa beach. I too found it to be very dirty, but that was quite a few yearts ago, so maybe they cleaned it up a little.
Jo

 

[SnowWhite]

We took a day trip there in 2000, and were very disappointed with how dirty it was. There was alot of seaweed on the beach and garbage. Also my father-in-law got some sludge that resembled oil all over his shoes. However I remember the shopping was pretty good though! That kinda made up for the bad beach day.

 

[laura001]

We visited Cocoa Beach in April of 2000 and also found the beach not to be near as nice as Daytona Beach (which we loved!). We were spending a few days in Port Canaveral which is quite close to Cocoa Beach. If you do end up spending time at Cocoa you should try the Radisson Resort at The Port, it is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed and the kids had a fabulous time. We like to do something like that before we head to Disney so we have a few "down" days before going like crazy! : )

 

[Tiger926]

Visited last May and we were sorely disappointed. The area itself is full of strip clubs, drug stores and car lots, not exactly the best activities for a 1 year old. Now that we have been, we can honestly say that we will more than likely never return. We left Disney a day early, and deeply regretted it. That being said, you don't mention anything about your family situation, so perhaps you have different likes than we do. For us, the area itself was much different in person than all of the guidebooks made it out to be. Perhaps you'd like to travel a bit further down and visit Kennedy Space Center instead?

Good luck, Tiger

 

[twinz]

The last time we were in Florida (September 2002) we went to the "other" coast (near Tampa/Clearwater). The beach was BEAUTIFUL...nice white sand that felt like sugar. The water was warm. We chose to drive west, rather then east because we were told the water is warmer on that coast, due to the bay.
Just off topic here for a second, we were in Miami in 1999 and we seen a bunch of blueish things in the sand, my sister was telling me to touch it, as we were both curious to what it was. We asked a passer by and he said "don't touch those, they are jelly fish". Thank goodness i didn't touch it!

 

[talicskai]

Just off topic here for a second, we were in Miami in 1999 and we seen a bunch of blueish things in the sand, my sister was telling me to touch it, as we were both curious to what it was. We asked a passer by and he said "don't touch those, they are jelly fish". Thank goodness i didn't touch it!

they are called "man-o-war" and are very nasty. They look like raveled denim at the end of a small blue jellyfish. They float up from the Bahamas a few times a year and I would never swim with them in the water!

Teresa

 

[JohnMcLane]

I think we'll try Daytona Beach. I'm sufficiently scared off from Cocoa Beach. I'd like to stay away from the Gulf side simply for distance reasons. I agree the water is warmer and the sand prettier but it's basically twice the distance. Thanks to all for your advice.

 

[Toad]

they are called "man-o-war" and are very nasty. They look like raveled denim at the end of a small blue jellyfish. They float up from the Bahamas a few times a year and I would never swim with them in the water!

Aha! Now I know what it was. I assumed it was some kind of jelly-fish and it only washed over my bare foot as I walked through the surf, but it stung like crazy and it looked like a rash for days on my foot.

 

[mom_rules]

I agree with the disappointed majority here. We found CCB to be very dirty. We loved Daytona-only an hour from WDW depending on the time of day and traffic on I4-real easy to get to - lots to see and do. Beach was clean-you can rent beach chairs and umbrellas (so you don't need to lug stuff like that around with you).

 

[JohnMcLane]

Thanks for the tip.....great news about the daily rentals.

 

[danield]

Here is two picture I took early March 2005 of the beach from the Cocoa Beach Pier. We usually park at the Sheppard municipal parking lot and walk to the pier. Kids love the pelican on the pier. If you want more pic, I'll post the on the Kodak gallery.

Granted, there is not much to do in Cocoa Beach itself but the beach is usually nice (but the water cold) and is not overdevelopped. Ron Jon surf shop is a must.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=m0f3ssa.15dc68vu&x=0&y=5q53is

Daniel

 

[ChisJo]

Ron Jon surf shop is a must

Good news for all the Ron Jon lovers, like myself. There is now a Ron Jon on the North end of I-Drive. I made a special trip to go there and ended up leaving a very happy customer. I wouldn't drive all the way to Cocoa Beach just to go to Ron Jon, but I must admit, I liked that store more because it was way bigger.
Jo

 

[lisa and john]

I just spent a day at Cocoa Beach last week, adn have the sunburn to prove it Although I was not impressed by the town itself, we liked the beach. If you like a beach with huge waves, then you will like Cocoa. We found the beach clean, and there were no jellyfish. It was cold at first, but it was refreshing, adn you didn't freeze when you got out. There is no place to rent anything, but there are some good deals on umbrellas and bodyboards on the way there. We stopped at laura wilson park, and went to the beach from there. There are also no garbage cans right on the beach, so be prepared to lug your garbage with you. The waves got stronger as the day progressed, so need to be careful with little ones.