ditto on the cocoa beach thing, Daytona's biggest attraction is that you can drive on to the beach, which is cool and might work for you, and would be just fine for dipping the toes.
but cocoa is a real nice beach. views of the cape (launch sites) and
plenty of pelicans, dolphins and other seacoast life. nice.
i wonder if you could take one of those disney express buses
we watched the disney ships go right by us this year as we sat on cocoa beach.
i am a huge beach person, but you could never get me to leave disney for anything. But if i was from the middle of the country i might consider what your saying. be careful of when you go to daytona beach
if its a racing week or spring break that beach can get crazy crowded.
just something else to consider.
edit, just reread your post, and saw you are talking january, BRRRRR
i dont mind cold water and have been in daytona water in february, but january is cold, toesees might be frozen when you pull em back. but you should be safe from racing activity, (just testing then)