Cocoa Beach

Cocoa Beach does not have any private country clubs located within its boundaries. However, there is one club located just to the west of Cocoa Beach within easy driving distance.

Rockledge Country Club

• Rockledge Country Club is a private golf and country located just thirteen miles to the west of Cocoa Beach in Rockledge, Florida. The club has an 18-hole golf course, clubhouse, bar and grill, pool and two tennis courts.

Seafood and American cuisine reign supreme in this surf haven with more restaurants between the two categories than all others combined. It is easy to see why with a strong commercial fishing fleet local to the area bringing fresh fish and shrimp back to the docks daily. A must try are the large Canaveral White Shrimp harvested by the local shrimp boats.

The City of Cocoa Beach does not have any indoor or outdoor shopping malls. Just an 8 mile ride to the west is the Merritt Square Mall located in the adjacent city of Merritt Island, Florida. However, like many malls across America it is not what it used to be and has been losing retailers. There are a lot of surf shops and beach accessory stores in Cocoa Beach including the world famous Ron Jon Surf Shop. But for the most part the best shopping is going to be in Orlando about an hour drive to the west.

The Cocoa Beach Pier stretches 800 feet out into the Atlantic Ocean. On the pier you will find restaurants, bars, gift shops, and live musical entertainment. At the very tip of the pier is the Rikki Tiki Tavern, a very unique open-air tiki bar with unbeatable views and ambiance.

The Cocoa Beach Aquatic Center is a great community pool facility with a large 50 meter swimming pool, water slide, diving boards, water spray park, children’s pool, bathhouse, volleyball, open air pavilion, playground, concession stand, and restaurant.

The Surfside Playhouse is a community theatre dedicated to the performing arts through productions, presentations, education, and outreach. They put on six main shows a year and regularly host classes, programs, and competitions.

Cocoa Beach holds the designation of being Orlando’s closest beaches so they can be a bit touristy. They do however provide excellent surfing opportunities and that is a huge influence on the beach scene here. Many professional surfers grew up on these beaches and the Florida Surf Museum can be found on its shoreline next to the world famous Ron Jon Surf Shop. The water here will be turbid blue to brownish color as the clear waters of the Gulf Stream current are way offshore and there are no Bahamas islands to block the swell.

Boating in the Cocoa Beach area is a very popular pastime. Residents have easy access to the Indian River Lagoon, Banana River and Atlantic Ocean waters surrounding the island. There are plenty of different boat ramp facilities in and around the Cocoa Beach area and the Cape Canaveral Locks provide ocean access through Port Canaveral. Wide waterways in this area offer easy cruising opportunities. There are some excellent protected natural shorelines just to the north in both the Indian River Lagoon and Banana River perfect for admiring mother nature.

Cocoa Beach is known for its fantastic inshore fishing. Some of the best redfishing in the state happens in the waters that surround the island. Trout, flounder, black drum, sheepshead, mangrove snapper and others can all be caught inshore year round. This is about the northernmost limits for targeting snook as they are susceptible to die offs if the water gets too cold. On the Atlantic Ocean side of things along the beaches you will find good numbers of tarpon, kingfish, Spanish mackerel and cobia. Further out will be wahoo, mahi mahi, sailfish, and tuna. It is just about a 21 mile run out to 100 foot depths and 35 miles to where the bottom really starts to drop off. Big bottom dwellers like snapper and grouper reside off the coast here on the many reefs and ledges offshore.

Cocoa Beach schools are controlled by the Brevard County School District. Niche.com gives the school district a B+ rating and has it as the 10th best school district in the state. Brevard County School District has 73,444 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1. According to state test scores, 60% of students are at least proficient in math and 61% in reading. The only private school in Cocoa Beach is Our Saviour School (Roman Catholic).

The City of Cocoa Beach has a total of 3 golf courses all of which are municipal. Within a short 20 mile drive you will find another 14 courses of which 7 are public and 3 municipal. All three of the city’s golf courses are located at the Cocoa Beach Country Club. The Cocoa Beach Country Club may sound private but it is a public facility featuring 27-holes of golf spread over three 9-hole courses.