Best Places for Board Sports on the Water in the Forgotten Coast

Surfing, bodyboarding, paddleboarding, paddle surfing, skimboarding, and wakeboarding; you name it whatever water board sport you love there is a place to enjoy it on the Forgotten Coast among the amazing and best beaches in Florida.

Even if you have never done any of these sports before there’s a place that you could learn a new hobby or skill or favorite water activity with a boarding sport. The gentle and warm waters off of the Forgotten Coast are a perfect place to learn a new water activity.

Here are some ways to enjoy each waterboard sport on the beaches of the Forgotten Coast:

Surfing

When people think of enjoying surfing in Florida not too many think of the beaches along the Forgotten Coast as it is not the most known for the largest waves, but there are still several surfers paddling out here and they’re all over the Forgotten Coast enjoying the waters. This makes it an amazingly great place for those wanting to learn how to surf as the waves are smaller and allow for the perfect learning conditions. There are also skilled surfers that still love to get in a chill surfing session on the Forgotten Coast as well. There are many great places to rent a surfboard on the Forgotten Coast or purchase one including Journeys of St. George Island, Island Dog Beach and Surf Shop on Saint George Island, Jolly Roger Beach Shop, St. George Island Trading Company, Party Rental Company in Eastpoint, and more.

Bodyboarding

Bodyboarding is a fun and relaxed less threatening way of riding the waves as compared to the much more intense activity of surfing. With bodyboarding, your ride on the bodyboard on the curl of the wave and are carried toward the shore. Some more experienced bodyboarders will wear fins to help them get to the wave faster and allow them to try tricks including getting up on one knee or standing on the board. It is not necessary to catch a wave on a bodyboard to have fun on the water. On a bodyboard, you can just kick around and float on the water as well making it a fun activity for water lovers of any age. Many Forgotten Coast Beach lovers that come back for vacations every year consider a bodyboard a must-have a piece of beach vacation gear.

Paddleboarding

The paddleboard has been growing in popularity with each year since it has been invented. Stand-up paddleboarding is the fastest growing water sport right now almost anyone can do it from the youngest of water lovers to the oldest active go-getter. This is a relaxing and fun activity that gives a great core workout. A great calm spot for beginning paddleboarders is the Apalachicola Bay or several great locations along Carrabelle Beach and off of Saint George Island. On the Forgotten Coast, you can take a lesson or just try it out in the company of someone who has paddle boarded before. Don’t be surprised if you paddleboard alongside of sea turtles or dolphins in the calm gorgeous waters around here.

Paddle surfing

Paddle surfing is much like paddleboarding but with more active waters giving a sort of hybrid between paddleboarding and actual surfing. The object of paddle surfing is to find surf or waves to paddle across as opposed to a very calm and seemingly unmoving surface in paddleboarding. Paddle surfing is a great way to catch a wave without the intimidation of full on surfing. The lesser waves of several spots along the Forgotten Coast are amazing for paddle surfing opportunities.

Skimboarding

Skimboarding is not quite as popular as some of the other boarding sports enjoyed on the water around the coast, but it is very fun to learn and somewhat easy to pick up. It is a fast and active activity where you skim or hydroplane on a small thin board on an incoming wave and ride it back to shore. In fact, the Forgotten Coast is home to Chip Sanders, a Skim USA champion, and he offers a variety of awesome skimboarding lessons in Apalachicola. You can rent or purchase skimboards from a number of great places along the coast.

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