Ask 1stFlorida
The Gulf side is calmer than the Atlantic side almost every day of the year, and the calmest water of all is behind a barrier island rather than in front of it.
Fort De Soto in Pinellas County has a shallow lagoon that stays knee deep a long way out. Quietwater Beach in Escambia County and Navarre Beach Marine Park in Santa Rosa both face the sound, not the Gulf, so there is no surf at all. Clam Pass and Delnor-Wiggins in Collier County are protected by the pass itself. In the Keys, Anne's Beach sits on shallow flats you can wade for a hundred yards. Coquina Beach in Manatee County and Fort Island Gulf Beach in Citrus are both flat and gradual.
Pinellas County. 1,136 acres across five connected islands at the mouth of Tampa Bay, the largest park Pinellas County runs and one that takes more than 2.7 million visits a year. North Beach and East Beach give almost three miles of white sand with swim centers and food concessions.
Open the guide →Escambia County. One of the four guarded spots on Pensacola Beach, with the same Santa Rosa Island Authority cover as the others: full-time June through August, weekends from mid-April through September, 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Open the guide →Santa Rosa County. Santa Rosa County's park beside the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, with sand on the Gulf side and on Santa Rosa Sound. The county's map marks three snorkeling reefs off the park, and the sound side has a kayak launch and boardwalks.
Open the guide →Collier County. A 35-acre county park where a three-quarter-mile boardwalk runs out through mangroves and a lagoon to the sand. Walk it or ride the tram, which is free. Marine life, coastal birds and butterflies are visible from the boardwalk.
Open the guide →Collier County. A state park with about a mile of Gulf shore running north to Wiggins Pass, known for shelling; taking live shells is not allowed. Currents in the pass are dangerous, so swimming is permitted only from the south boundary of the park up to the double red flags at the north end of parking area four.
Open the guide →Monroe County. At mile marker 73.5 on the ocean side of Lower Matecumbe Key, open sunrise to sunset. Three hundred feet of boardwalk runs behind the sand to six pavilions with covered picnic tables, paved parking and public restrooms.
Open the guide →Manatee County. 2650 Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach, the longest beach on the island, with the remains of old piers still standing out in the water. One of the three beaches in the county with lifeguards and medical rescue: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Labor Day through Memorial Day and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. through the summer.
Open the guide →Citrus County. Fifteen acres at 16000 West Fort Island Trail in Crystal River. Swimming, a boat ramp, parking and picnic tables. Fishing is allowed from the pier and nowhere else, not from the beach and not from the jetties.
Open the guide →The quiet beaches are the ones you cannot drive to. Cayo Costa and North Captiva in Lee County are reached by boat or ferry and have miles of sand with almost nobody on them.
Three parts of the coast allow it, all on the Atlantic side.
Most Florida beaches do not allow dogs on the sand at all, so the ones that do are worth knowing by name.
Have a different question? Ask 1stFlorida →