A group of my friends wanted to do a vacation to a destination that would be warmer than home in November/December. We talked about going to a variety of different places but we ended up picking Florida. Florida is another one of my favorite places to visit. I love the heat, and the sun, and even the humidity (I might be the only person who doesn’t mind it).
No one in the group had ever been to Cocoa Beach before, so that is the location we settled on. We got an Airbnb for 6 days that was able to accommodate all 7 of us. The Airbnb was about 2 blocks from the beach and we did have to cross a busy 4 lane street to get there, but it wasn’t too bad.
Cocoa Beach reminded me a lot of the Outer Banks. It was kind of touristy. There were quiet a few of the classic beach shops with souvenirs and beach things. It was a beautiful area though. The largest Ron Jon Surf Shop is located in Cocoa Beach and was recommended as something to check out on many other websites listing things to do. It was pretty cool. They had some nice things. I got a hoodie and it turned out to be one of my favorites. It’s so soft and comfortable, I bring it with me everywhere now.
The weather was perfect for the entire week. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold. During the day it was high 70s to low 80s and at night it was mid 60s. Warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt yet cool enough to wear a hoodie and still be comfortable. The ocean water was a little chilly, which really surprised me, and most people going in the water had wet suits on, but that didn’t stop me. I swam around awhile and did some boogie boarding. I thought about renting a surfboard the day we went to the beach, but decided against it.
The first night we arrived we went to a place call the 4th Street Fillin Station. It was an old gas station they converted into a restaurant and bar. We were hungry after traveling most of the day and it was one of the few places still open to serve food. It was really good and the bar itself was very nice. They had a large patio and even an ice cream place right next door.
The first day or two, we stayed at the house and swam in the pool and sat in the hot tub. Then we went out exploring what was around. There were a ton of bars and restaurants. My favorite spot we went to was The Sandbar Sports Grill. The tacos here were amazing! While on this trip, I made it a point to try seafood since I never really have. I am so glad I did because it was all fantastic! I had fish, shrimp, and chicken tacos, the fish being my favorite. The restaurant had a sign they were known for their fish tacos, and now I know why. We actually went here twice during our stay. I will be craving these tacos for the rest of my life. (Side note: I tried to make the fish and shrimp tacos myself, it wasn’t exactly the same but they were still good. I never heard of blackening seasoning before this trip. I recently bought some blackening seasoning from Amazon that I have been putting on shrimp and it’s been really good!)
Another place went went to that was pretty good was Coconuts on the Beach. This was another spot that appeared on all the lists of things to do in Cocoa Beach. The drinks were good and so was the food. It is a beach restaurant and bar. It had an indoor bar and seating area and a large outdoor area with 2 bars and many tables. The outdoor area overlooked the ocean, it was a really nice view. This was another place we went to more than once for dinner and drinks.
We jumped on scooters one morning and scooted up to see the Cocoa Beach Pier. There were a few shops and a few restaurants/bars on the pier itself. We wanted to go to the Riki Tiki Tavern which is located at the very end of the pier hovering above the ocean. Unfortunately that bar was closed when we went there but we did sit outside on the pier at Pelicans Bar and Grill for awhile until the wind got to be too much and we went inside. Here is the link to all the restaurants at the pier.
One night we decided to do a bar crawl around to see as many places as we could. It wasn’t anything planned in advance. We were sitting at the house looking at the map on our phones trying to decide what we wanted to do and we saw a ton of different bars and restaurants and decided we were going to stop in as many as we could walking from the Airbnb. One of the most memorable stops on this adventure was Johnathan’s Pub. This place was kind of a hole in the wall bar that had a small food menu and all the reviews about Johnathan’s Pub raved their French dip sandwich. Unfortunately, I didn’t try it and I am kind of kicking myself since I love food, but maybe one day I will go back and give it a try. The drinks were also reasonably priced and tasted great. It definitely seemed like a locals hangout spot and we did get some glances from other patrons but that happened pretty much everywhere we went.
The last place we visited on our “crawl” was a small bar called Hunkerdown. It was only a few steps away from Coconuts on the Beach and it was recommended by several people from Cocoa Beach and even bartenders back home. There was an outside area with tables and a stage. The outside seating area was cool, the walls looked like a wave. The inside had dollar bills on the ceiling from people who visited. Of course we wrote all our names on a dollar bill and asked them to put it up there.
Another cool thing we did was check out the NASA Kennedy Space Center. It was only about 30 minutes from our Airbnb. We bought tickets when we arrived there and it wasn’t too crowded. The whole experience was really interesting. I was there a very long time ago when I was young, but I didn’t remember much about being there other than I lived in the t-shirt I got from there that had cats dressed up as astronauts on it. It was cool going back as an adult and knowing more about space and NASA. They had the space shuttle Atlantis on display and seeing that up close and hearing all about it’s history gave me goosebumps. It just blew my mind that this aircraft was in space! There was a tour guide there talking about the shuttle and it was so interesting and informative. I never knew that the doors on the back stayed open for the majority of the time in space. I always thought the astronauts had that whole entire ship to float around in, but it was really just the front cockpit area until they attached to the space station. Another interesting fact is the space shuttle couldn’t get wet. When it returns to Earth, if the weather isn’t great in Florida, they reroute them to a different landing site in California. Once in California, they will bring the shuttle back to Florida on the top of another plane and it could take 7 days to get there! Wild right?
After leaving NASA, we explored a brewery and some more bars and restaurants. The restaurant we stopped to have lunch at was called Fish Lips in Port Canaveral. It was really good! I had a vegetarian poke bowl. Which is another food item from Florida I will be craving forever! So many places had poke bowls on the menu and each time I tried one I wasn’t disappointed. (The week after I returned home I tried to make a poke bowl myself and it actually came out pretty good.)
There was also a tiki bar on the way back called Ellie Mae’s Tiki Bar and I wanted to stop and check it out. The drinks came in a cool tiki mug. The bottom of the mug said Tiki Rob. I looked up the name and found a ton of other cool tiki mugs created by him. We also stopped at a brewery called Carib Brewery USA. My friends are into trying different beers so it was on their list of things to see while we were there.
Overall it was a really great week. I had tons of fun hanging out with my friends and exploring a new place. It was definitely a nice getaway from home since the weather started to get cold. If you ever venture to Cocoa Beach, check out some of these places and leave some new recommendations for me for next time!
The Venturesome Introvert 