| Country | Currency | Safety |
|---|---|---|
| Mexico | Pesos | Organized crime, Banditos, Driving at Night |
| U. S. | U.S. Dollars | Violent crime, theft. |
| Costa Rica | Colones | Theft, use caution at night, driving hazards. |
| Barbados | Barbadian Dollars |
Safe, but getting more dangerous. |
| Dominican Republic |
Dominican Pesos |
Caution at night. Driving hazards. |
| Puerto Rico | U.S. Dollars | Violent crime, theft. |
| Place | Wetsuit | Wave Size |
|---|---|---|
| Baja | Full, Booties, Trunks | waist high to giant |
| California | Spring, Full, Booties |
waist high to giant |
| Florida | Trunks, Spring, Full |
waist high to overhead |
| Costa Rica | Trunks | waist high to double overhead |
| Barbados | Trunks, Top | waist high to double overhead |
| Dominican Republic |
Trunks, Top | waist high to triple overhead |
| Puerto Rico | Trunks | waist high to giant |
Florida is often overlooked as a surfing destination because it has a reputation for small and inconsistent surf. While it does not often get large surf, Florida does have a fair amount of small surf and occasionally gets some size. Unfortunately, a lot of the swell in Florida is wind swell and it is often difficult to find a place that makes sense of it. Also, Florida has a long and gently sloping continental shelf which can take a lot of the juice out of the surf. Sometimes, a hurricane or a North Easter provides the means for perfect surf.
Florida has five distinct surf regions: Northern Florida, Central Florida, South Florida, West Florida, and the Panhandle. All of these areas have sharks.
Northern Florida is the area from the Georgia border down to the north side of Cape Canaveral. This area gets cold water and air in the winter. It also gets surf and has some very good spots including one of the sharkiest places on earth, the New Smyrna Inlet.
Central Florida is basically from Titusville down through Fort Pierce. This area also gets colder in the winter months and gets some very fun surf. There are also a couple of big wave spots which can hold some serious surf when it gets big. Monster Hole is one of these spots, it also has a lot of sharks.
South Florida is the part of Florida that is south of Fort Pierce. This part of Florida would be a great place to be a surfer because the water stays pretty warm most of the year and the air rarely gets too cold. The only thing keeping it from being a great place to be a surfer is the island chain due east and southeast. The Bahamas islands block most of the swell that could potentially arrive in South Florida. This being said, South Florida is not completely devoid of surf and sometimes can get quite good. Many surfers in South Florida drive to Fort Pierce which is outside of the Bahamas swell shadow to get some waves.
West Florida and the Panhandle also get some waves, sometimes great waves. The west coast of Florida has some islands and jetty breaks and it extends to the north of Tampa then there is a large area of mangroves until the Panhandle. The Panhandle then extends to the west until the Alabama border. The Panhandle has some pier, jetty, rivermouths, and even a reef pass. Surprisingly it can get pretty good fairly often due to a deep water canyon off of Pensacola, but can get very cold in the winter. West Florida and the Panhandle get most of their surf from hurricanes and other storms that come across the gulf.