Cocoa Beach has got to be one of the best Florida beaches of all; there is so much to do in such a small area, you see, Cocoa Beach is only 15 square miles and ten of that is water. When I am asked “What’s so great about Cocoa Beach?” Many things spring to mind; there’s Ron Jon’s, unique clothing and souvenir shops, many restaurants, and a lot of family fun with two miniature golf courses, a go cart track and of course, the beach with a fantastic pier. It’s also great to be so close to so many other things to do, like in Orlando, but I what I really love is just the town it’s self.

You know, Cocoa Beach is considered a retirement area, the average age is 54, but if you looked around you’d tend not to believe it because there’s always something to do. In the summer there are tourists on the beaches and in the shops and then in the fall is slows down a bit and gives all of us who live here year round a chance to catch our breath before our friends from the other parts of the country come to stay for the winter. After they all leave in the spring we gear up for summer and the whole cycle starts all over again.

Cocoa Beach started to come on the radar when in the 1960′s two things happened: One, NASA came to the area in the form of the Kennedy Space Center. One of the coolest things you will ever do is watch a rocket launch and there is no better place to be when one goes off than standing on the beach. There are no buildings to obstruct your view and on a clear day you think you can literally see them achieve orbit. If it’s a shuttle not only can you see and hear it but on the beach you can feel the sound of it go through you, it’s wild. There are only a few more shuttles scheduled to fly out and I’ll bet the beaches are going to be packed with people from all over the country. I know of several people who are planning special trips just to see them go. When you do plan a trip keep in mind the shuttle launch schedule changes so it’s best to keep checking it.

Two: A wildly popular little show called “I Dream of Jeannie”, tell me the theme song didn’t just start in your head, came on T.V. Although the only episode actually filmed in Cocoa Beach was the one where Jeannie gets married there were enough scenes that showed just enough of Cocoa Beach for people to want to know more about it. Another popular iconic thing in Cocoa Beach was a restaurant called the Moon Hut it was a popular hang out of the Astronauts back in the day, it’s a Mexican restaurant now but there’s still a lot of space memorabilia throughout the place.

There’s a lot of history and nature around Cocoa Beach, the Kennedy Space Center is just 15 miles north of town and we have the Canaveral National Seashore or the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge nearby, both are great places for a day of family fun in the great outdoors. We also have a store here that sells dinosaur and other fossils, it’s an interesting place to go and just look around.

As you might have guessed tourism is a major industry in Cocoa Beach and one of the biggest draws here is Ron Jon’s Surf Shop. Its open 24 hours and gets over 2 million visitors a year, it is also home to the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame. Cocoa Beach is the small wave surf capital of the east coast, and hosts the Ron Jon Easter Surfing Festival which drew an estimated 50,000 visitors in 2009 and began in 1964. This all takes place around the Cocoa Beach Pier, I love the pier. We spent New Year’s Eve there this past year, we walked down the beach to it and rang in the New Year dancing 800 feet over the Atlantic Ocean, it was beautiful.

The Pier, because it does extend so far into the water, is a great place to watch the surfers that flock to the area when the swells are going off. People surf with long boards and shorts boards they even have boogie boards they are all different. Some are beginners and some have been doing it for years, they all have their own style and are fascinating to watch. There are also all kinds of kids in the surf with skim boards trying to get the best ride they can off the shore surf, it’s awesome. The Cocoa Beach Pier was built in 1962 and is the focal point of Cocoa Beach. They have many shops there with specialty clothing, gifts and jewelry. When you enjoy a meal there you can either eat inside, under a covered area outside or head to the Tiki Bar at the end of the pier. No matter where you eat the view is spectacular you can watch the ocean or watch the people on the beach playing volleyball, building sandcastles or just baking in the sun. You can also watch the people fishing off the pier as they try to reel in their latest catch.

For those of us who live here year round there is plenty to enjoy for instance every year part of Cocoa Beach is shut for the annual art festival which has been held since 1963. We have an air show that draws crowds estimated at 30,000 people and this year, for the first time, there was a boat race right off the Pier.

Here in Cocoa Beach we say “It’s all about the beach” and it is really but there’s a lot to do on land too, we invite you to come see and for yourself.

Surfing is just the beginning of an adventure at Cocoa Beach, FL. You can spend a day at the beach or view a Space Shuttle Launch courtesy of NASA, either way you and your family will enjoy the vacation destination.