Pin Drop: Cocoa Beach
Dan Reiter, author of ON A RISING SWELL, offers his tour of the South's great surf town
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Dan Reiter opens his new book, On a Rising Swell: Surf Stories From Florida’s Space Coast, by dismissing the idea of “surf literature”: Surfers are the equivalent to children set loose in a field, chasing bubbles set loose by a machine. And “it seems to me a bit of a stretch to bank a genre on the theme of children chasing bubbles,” he writes.
This is, nonetheless, surf literature: rolling from essay to rollicking essay, vignette to vignette, it offers a portrait of one surfer’s decent into obsession—and, crucially for the purposes of Southlands, a portrait of one of the nation’s more important surf towns, perhaps the most important East Coast surf town: Cocoa Beach, Florida.
It’s an unlikely surf mecca, perhaps, where there are, as Reiter notes, “slippery, illusory prospects” of good conditions at best. That’s part of its charm, though, yielding an “open-hearted and generous culture” of surfers who have no reason to hog a wave, given that they’re mostly mediocre. And it offered a paradoxical path toward excellence, as legendary figures—Kelly Slater, most of all—had to learn how to maneuver on miniscule waves. (It also became a hotbed of surfboard shapers.)
Dan was kind enough to offer a couple of his favorite spots around town, which you’ll find below this week’s round-up. For the full ins and outs of the South’s great surf town—its Indigenous history, its modern rise in the 1960s, the way the engineers first improved and then undermined the surf conditions, and, crucially, guidance on how not to be a “kook”—be sure to grab a copy of Dan’s book.
—Boyce
Dan Reiter’s Cocoa Beach
Cocoa Beach is a bricolage, a confounding blend of assorted rhythms and aesthetic sensibilities. Drive down A1A on a summer morning and you’ll note subtle hints of midcentury modern, tiki-kitsch, maritime, space-age, and surf-shop flavorings. Everything’s sandblasted, rust-kissed, and just a bit unmanicured. To better understand the peculiar mysteries that define my hometown––which happens to be the thumping heart of East Coast surf culture––here are a few spots to visit if you ever come this way:
Café Surfinista
A creation of Dadaist surf artist Bruce Reynolds and his gastronomic wife, Diane, Café Surfinista is where savvy locals come for their daily dose of truth, beauty, and vanilla latte. Tuck into a reading nook among bead curtains, bamboo, fine art, and glistening art-house surfboards. Relax to Wes Montgomery tunes over a poke bowl and chat up a smattering of surf-world luminaries. This is where Kelly Slater, the 11-time world surfing champ, comes for lunch when he’s in town. It’s the nerve center of the barrier island––the heart of the thumping heart.
Core Surf Shop
If, like most tourists, you feel the need to make the requisite pilgrimage to Ron Jon, do it quickly. (History buffs can dip into the Florida Surf Museum, a modest but enlightening affair in the annex building.) But while the common kook might linger long over the plastic treasures in the Ron Jon gift shop, Southlanders seeking out the more authentic surf subculture should visit Core Surf Shop a couple miles to the north. The owner, Dennis Griffin, is a fount of knowledge and one of the most stylish surfers in the county. And his surfboard collection rivals anything this side of the Mississippi.
The Beach
I’d like to tell you which street is breaking best today, but the sandbars are ever-changing propositions, and anyway I shouldn't divulge the secret. We’ve got enough surf spots to go around. Beginners would do well to post up at Jetty Park, especially if the wind is blowing from the north. More adept practitioners might give RC’s in Satellite Beach a go, or Hangar’s, a popular spot at the Space Force Base, where the old submerged Patrick Pier tends to create favorable, peeling conditions. No need to be picky. Go find yourself a patch of sand and sea and paddle out.
The Thousand Islands
For a more intimate, calm-water experience, wend your way over to Ramp Road Park, on the Banana River side of the barrier island. Rent a stand up paddleboard or a kayak and head out to commune with dolphins, osprey, great blue herons, and manatees. Or take a bioluminescent voyage on a summer evening. Better yet, escape into the mangrove islands on a crisp winter day, and let civilization fall away. There are revelations to be found out there, in the shade of the Australian Pines, with the song of the cetaceans to guide you.
The Lowdown
The latest threat to federal forests? Decreased protection for roadless areas, a category that includes some beloved portions of the Southern Appalachians.
How to go TikTok viral: talk about Alabama plants.
Issue 1 contributor J. Drew Lanham reflects on the meaning of a Black beach town—its past significance, its present challenges, and its uncertain future.
Arkansas: A ban on Buffalo River hog farms is finally permanent.
Carolinas: In the wake of Helene, life for N.C. river guides is precarious. // The hot new crop is taro. // A land purchase pushes along a major new rail trail. // A fish—long known to the Cherokee, but new to Western science—finally gets a name.
Florida: A fight to stop ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ a new state prison amid the Everglades. (See also: Craig Pittman’s sharp take.) // Bringing native plants back to Lake Kissimmee.
Louisiana: There’s more funding to restore Louisiana’s Maurepas swamp, but less protection for local wetlands. // Are redfish on the brink?
Texas: Solar is replacing rice farms along the Texas coast—and not everyone is pleased. // Can winemaking rescue storm-ravaged Hill Country peach farms?
Virginia: A mountain resort gets an upgrade.
West Virginia: Cleaning up coal-tainted creeks.
My Gen-X brain read 'Cocoa Beach', and it took me right back to watching 'I Dream of Jeannie' after school.
Excellent article and links -- I am so looking forward to receiving my first issue of Southlands.