As the weather begins to warm up in the North and the spring time thaw starts people’s thoughts turn to warm weather activities and they start looking forward to venturing outside for more than 15 minutes without freezing to death. Many people envision warm breezes, caressing their faces, palm tress gently swaying in the breeze, in short they picture Florida beaches.

Activities at Florida Beaches

I have lived in Florida over 25 years and when people come down to visit they always ask me where the best Florida beaches are and while I want to give them an honest answer it’s really, honestly, hard to choose just one. Having been all over the state and having visited more beaches than I can count I have to say there are too many to call just one my favorite or give it the title of ‘best’. When I’m asked this question tend to I ask a few myself, for instance I ask “What do you like to do at the beach, for instance do you like to fish?” It’s true you can cast a line off of any beach but if you’d actually like to catch something there are a few areas that are better than others. Destin, in the Panhandle, for instance, is known to have Cobia and other species running right off shore this may have something to do with the fact that the 100 fathom curve is only ten miles offshore at Destin and provides the fastest access to deep water fishing in the Gulf, surly the fish must use it too.

East Coast Beaches

If you like to drive on the beach try Huguenot Memorial Park, take a picnic basket and party all day with a few hundred of your friends and you’re still close to the city Huguenot Memorial Park is within 20 miles of Jacksonville and is a great place to spend the day. Ponte Vedra Beach and Jacksonville beaches are also close by. If you go a little further south you’ll find Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach, you can drive on these beaches too during certain times of the year.

Back on the East Coast, down from New Smyrna Beach you’ll find world famous Cocoa Beach home of Jon Ron’s Surf and known to surfers as the small wave capital of the east coast. In Stuart there’s a great little beach called Bathtub Reef Park. The reef is about 40 yards offshore and protects the shoreline from breaking waves, it’s very calm and a great place for small children to swim and to learn to snorkel.

Florida’s Gulf Coast Beaches

Across the state on the west coast just south of Tampa and St. Petersburg you’ll find Sarasota and the beautiful islands of Longboat Key, Lido Key and Siesta Key with their quiet, secluded beaches they are great places to slow down and relax. Further south you’ll encounter Captiva and Sanibel Islands, Sanibel Island is famous for it’s ‘shelling’. If you head down to this beach early in the day you’ll find all sorts of people hunched over with small nets and buckets picking up an array of beautiful shells that are all over the beach there.

South Florida Beaches

Now we get into South Florida beaches and some of the top beaches in the world. Fort Lauderdale is still a fun Spring Break destination and West Palm Beach is a favorite winter haven for those seeking refuge from the harsh New England winters. Miami Beach and South Beach are where Europeans come to play and party. There is so much culture, flare and ethnic flavor that it takes all of South Florida to contain it. Here is where you’ll find all of the ‘beautiful people’ splashing in the warm tropical waters and sunning themselves along the sandy shore. You may even see a photo shoot or part of a movie being filmed.

Have you ever wanted to visit the Caribbean but don’t have a passport? No worries, just come on down to the Florida Keys. Key Largo down to Key West is our own little slice of Caribbean paradise. Inshore and off shore fishing, snorkeling, diving and sailing are enjoyed all over this area. Smathers Beach in Key West is a local favorite and is a great place to just relax and soak up some sun. The beaches of John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo and Fort Zachery Taylor State Park are both excellent for snorkeling and on your way from one to the other be sure to stop by Robbie’s Marina their restaurant, the Hungry Tarpon, is wonderful and after you eat you can turn around and feed the Tarpon off the dock there, we’ve done it, it’s a blast.

Northwest Florida Beaches

This area is known as the Florida Panhandle, it’s beaches are characterized by their emerald green waters and pure white quartz sand, they include Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Okaloosa Island, Pensacola, Panama City Beach, a favorite of spring breakers, to name a few.

Florida Beaches are for Fun

If you like to surf, snorkel, fish, wind surf, kite board, go boating, parasailing, look for shells or simple lay out in the sun there are no better beaches to do any or all of these things on than our Florida beaches. You don’t even have to bring your own supplies you can usually rent everything from a personal watercraft to a beach umbrella and get everything from suntan lotion to a burger.

We’ve seen everything off Florida beaches too, from shrimp boats to boat races to a submarine coming into Port Canaveral off Cocoa Beach where we live. There are many things to do in Florida and we are blessed because many of them you can to on or in the water so when you hear it said “In Florida, it’s all about the beach” you now know just exactly what that means.