Does anyone have any beaches to recommend?

[Totallylovedisney]

We are going to take an entire day and go to the ocean so up to 2 hours of travel time is ok. Does anyone have any beaches to recommend either atlantic or gulf side? I am so lost, we want a beach the whole family can enjoy, but yet my daughter wants to learn how to surf too.

thanks

 

[A Mickeyfan]

Hi... I live on the Gulf side & if you want waves for your daughter, I would say go to the Atlantic side. There are really no waves for surfing in the Gulf. My family lives on the Atlantic side & the go to: Flagler (ok), New Symrna & Ormond (nice) & Daytona (crowded),

 

[GinaB]

We just returned from Cocoa Beach today. We spent the first part of our vacation in WDW and drove to Cocoa Beach. It only took us an hour and a half. Cocoa is on the Atlantic side and if your daughter wants to learn to surf this would be a great beach. We saw lots of surfers and the waves were perfect. Also Cocoa is home to Ron Jon's. The worlds biggest surf shop. She'll love it!

 

[MalcolmC]

Been to both Gulf and Atlantic beaches.

We prefer the warmer, calmer waters of Clearwater Beach to the Atlantic. We go there at least once a year.

My wife swears she almost drowned when a wave hit her off her feet at Cocoa Beach

 

[MusicT]

I live on the atlantic ocean side of Florida. It is ok at low tide but at high tide the lifeguards get really busy. They pull people out of riptides daily.

We love the gulf Especially Clearwater Beach. Besides the sunsets are great and no driving on the beach...just nice white sand. We went just last week and the water was so clear we could see schools of fish swimming buy.

The drive to Cocoa is easier from Orlando if you go to Clearwater you have to drive through Tampa.

 

[Jane E.]

I love Siesta Beach in Sarasota. The water is generally warm & calm. No big waves though. If you do decide to go on the Gulf side make sure that there is no red tide.

 

[Totallylovedisney]

Ok I am from Wisconsin and have a silly question. What is a red tide?

 

[Bonnie40]

I would strongly recommend Venice Beach. It is just south of Sarasota on the Gulf side and is one of the most beautiful areas we've ever been to. Everytime we go to Florida, we always make a point of going there. They are famous for fossilized sharks teeth that wash up on the shore of the beach. The kids just love it! It's about a 2 hr drive from WDW.

Bonnie

 

[pokeysmom]

RED TIDE IS AN OVERGROWTH AND ACCUMULATION OF ALGAE, IT IS GROSS AND IF IT IS OCCURING WHILE YOU ARE THERE YOU WON'T WANT TO GO IN THE WATER, IT SPOILED A VACATION FOR US ONE YEAR ON THE GULF. IF YOU WANT TO READ ABOUT RED TIDE GO TO WWW.START1.COM, ALSO THERE IS A PICTURE OF THE WATER WHEN THIS OCCURS. THE BEACH AND WATER ON THE GULF ARE BEAUTIFUL OTHERWISE, BUT THE WATER IS USUALLY CALM. WE GO TO NEW SMYRNA BEACH EVERY SUMMER, IT IS ON THE ATLANTIC AND ABOUT 1HR. 15 MIN AWAY YOU CAN DRIVE ON THE BEACH ON THE NORTHERN PART OF NEW SMYRNA BUT NOT ON THE SOUTHERN PART SO YOU COULD ACTUALLY PARK EITHER ON THE BEACH OR IN ONE OF THE PUBLIC AREAS, NEW SMYRNA IS WHERE ALOT OF THE LOCALS GO BECAUSE ITS NOT AS CROWDED BECAUSE IT IS PRIMARILY CONDOS NOT HOTELS ON THE BEACH. THERE IS ANOTHER WEB SITE WHERE YOU CAN SEE WHAT NEW SMYRNA BEACH LOOKS LIKE IT IS www.virtualvolusia.com/OVT.html. HAVE A GREAT TIME! MY SON SAYS TO CLICK ON THE DIFFERENT AREAS ON THIS WEBSITE SO YOU CAN SEE THE WHITER SAND AND DIFFERENT AREAS, THE WATER ISNT GOING TO BE AS BLUE AS THE GULF HERE BECAUSE OF THE WAVES AND THE DEPTH OF THE WATER, HOWEVER YOU CAN STILL GO OUT QUITE A WAYS BE SURE YOU ARE BY A LIFEGUARD STAND SORRY THIS POST IS SO LONG.

 

[Totallylovedisney]

We will be down in 11 days, wooo hooo, does the red tie occur a lot in summer months?

 

[pokeysmom]

DEAR TOTALLY, I DONT THINK THAT THE RED TIDE IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW BUT I THINK IT DEPENDS ALOT ON THE WIND. DID YOU SEE MY PREVIOUS REPLY AND THE WEBSITES?

 

[Totallylovedisney]

Yes I did, but it did not say if they happen year around or are more prominent at certain times of the year.

 

[pokeysmom]

dear totally, i was curious to find out more so i checked another website, it gives updates so far no problems this year, to check it out go to www.mote.org/~mhenry/rtupdate.phtml. how old are your kids if teens i would go to atlantic, if grade school i would go to gulf.

 

[Totallylovedisney]

Well our daughter is 7 and the other one is 28, oh wait thats my husband. Sometimes with the way he goofs around with our daughter you would think he was a kid too.

 

[pokeysmom]

dear totally, my kids have been going to the atlantic since they were born and have done fine but we sure had to watch them every second because of the rip current, i thought maybe she was really going to surf, in this case its a toss up, your husband would probably love the waves they can be from 1-3 feet usually and great for boogie boards or body surfing and the sand is like powder and the beach is wide, great for sand castles but be near life guard, the gulf can be calm or have small waves but the color of the water is more aqua, its amazing that the beach and water can be so different, my sister has a condo that is beachfront at longboat key, on the gulf, that i can stay in for free but we love new smyrna so much that we rent a condo for 2 weeks every summer. let me know what you decide, if you go to new smyrna check out the 27th street area on the above link for virtual volusia. that is where i would go.

 

[SillyGirl]

What about a place called honeymoon island or honeymoon beach or something like that? There is another island that yo have to ride the foot ferry too. Anyone been to either of those places? We live in Oregon where we have a beautiful coastline, but the water is too cold to play in and it's often rainy/windy on the beach. Just looking for a nice place to escape to.

SillyGirl

 

[Mogs30]

This is for anyone who has been to cocoa beach. We are going to Florida. Never been. Not sure if doable, but will try. Have a free day from WDW and will do Kennedy from like 9-2?? not sure if 5 hours is enough time, and then go from there to Cocoa beach to look around. Does anyone know if they have fishing trips, or dinner cruises, and if it is possible to do both in one day. Then drive back to WDW. I have read only 1 1/2 hours from WDW??? how far drive from Kennedy space to Cocoa beach??? any help would be great or if a nice website for Cocoa beach. My hubby is not thrilled to be going to WDW and only asked to do two things. Beach and Kennedy. Will probably be renting a car for the day to do this. Thanks again.

 

[Antonia]

Anybosy ever heard of Vilano Beach near St. Augustine? How is it?

 

[GinaB]

Mogs

I can try to give you a little information on Cocoa Beach as me and my son were there from June 12-14th.

We spent the first part of our vacation at Disney and drove to Cocoa Beach, earlier in this thread I stated it took an hour and half, but I forgot that I missed the exit to SR 417 that takes you to the SR 528 (the Bee Line which takes you right to Kennedy / Cocoa Beach), so really it only took us an hour.

We did not visit Kennedy as we did not leave early enough, and I have heard that you need to get to Kennedy first thing in the morning if you want to go on the tour.

I don't know if there are any dinner or fishing cruises, but I'm sure by Port Canaveral there are some. By the way, the cruise ships are cool to watch!

We spent our time at the beach as the weather was perfect and the water was warm.

Cocoa Beach is not a far drive from Kennedy, maybe 20 min. tops.

When I was planning our vacation I found a website for Cocoa Beach at :

www.cocoabeach.com

you should find everythng you need to know about the area.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any quetions.

 

[Mogs30]

thank you!!!, the website was helpful. I am looking forward to going. We are renting a car and going for the day to KSC/beach, so hope weather co-operates with us that day. Did you happen to see any dolphins or manatees while there???. We are going to be taking an "Island boat lines" tour when going. Thanks again, people on these boards are wonderful for information.