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Picnic Tables - Break Data
Surf spot travel photo of Picnic Tables
Description
Patrick Air Force Base occupies several miles of coast between Cocoa Beach's southern border and the beginning of Satellite Beach. A block-wide strip of land with gorgeous river and oceanfront views, Patrick Air Force Base must be one of the best assignments you can receive in the armed forces. Lucky for the surfers in Central Florida, A1A runs through the base and along the oceanfront, giving us access to several similar breaks, including Picnic Tables, First and Second Light and Hangers. PAFB also features the first signs of coquina, sedimentary shelves of reef-like rock that run all the way south into Indialantic and make getting in out of the water potentially hazardous. Watch your shins and toes.

Driving south from Cocoa Beach, Picnic Tables is the first dirt parking lot on the left. Known as Pine Trees in the '70s, it has always been a great place for friends to gather, featuring plenty of parking, a decent sandbar and a pavilion with picnic tables, showers and bathrooms. The wave is usually peaky and fun, provided there is a bit of a swell. Many families from near and far gather here daily and for the weekends to enjoy Mother Nature and the facilities, courtesy of the United States of America.
-- Matt Anderson 		Best Tide:
changes depending on the sandbar, with better high tide ops
Best Swell Direction:
E
Best Size:
2 to 6 feet
Best Wind:
W
Perfect-O-Meter:
2 (1=Lake Erie; 10=Jeffreys Bay)
Bottom:
sand with an occasional rock
Ability Level:
all
Bring Your:
board, cooler and chick
Best Season:
fall
Access:
easy, just off A1A
Crowd Factor:
It's a coin toss.
Local Vibe:
military influenced, be polite
Bicep Burn:
2 (1=1ft Waikiki; 10=15ft Ocean Beach)
Poo Patrol:
1 (1=clean; 10=turds in the lineup)
Shark Danger:
4 (1=none; 10=bring an iron cage)
Hazards:
Watch out for accidentally kicking sand in an MPs face.
Places To Eat
There are no concessions or public eateries on base property, but a snow cone vendor sets up near Picnic Tables for most weekends and parties. Henry's Chevron and Deli marks the beginning of Cocoa Beach's streets to the north and 7-Eleven breaches the Satellite Beach area to the south, both a short trip. Otherwise, see the restaurant options listed for Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach.
Places To Stay
Only enlisted citizens are allowed in the base motel. Not to worry, though, it's a 10-minute drive north to Cocoa Beach or 15 minutes south into Satellite, both holding a slew of choices for some beauty sleep. You can check the web for Cocoa Beach. For Satellite Beach, a Quality Suites sits right past the base near Pineda Causeway (800-228-5151).

Or try
Things To Do
Smack-dab at the epicenter of Cocoa Beach, marked by the town's only traffic light on northbound A1A, is an enclave of epicurean delights made up of bars such as Rusty's Seafood and Oyster Bar (321-783-2401), the Green Parrot taco bar (407-799-9614) and beachfront saloons like the Beach Shack (321-783-2250) and Coconuts (321-784-1422). Jonathan's Pub (321-783-9368) is another local favorite, but Cocoa Beach's crown jewel for nightlife is The Inner Room (321-784-6177). In fact, you could almost say this "gentlemen's club" is the heart of Cocoa Beach. Influenced by area's longstanding legacy of hedonism, you can see all types of surfers lining up at Central Florida's favorite home for surgically implanted, saline perfection. Go check out "the Firm" -- if not to spy on your favorite Florida pro, just to have an anonymous, half-naked woman writhe in your lap for five Washingtons.
Surf Shops
Quiet Flight Surf Shop (321-783-1530) and Ron Jon's (321-799-8820) -- the world's largest, brightest and only 24-hour surf shop -- all wait near the center of town. Natural Art (321-783-0764) and Crescent Beach Surf Shop (321-783-1700) sit just at the south end of the streets on the way out of Dodge. RC's Board Shop (321-773-1800) is a few blocks south of its namesake in Satellite Beach and Surf Express (321-779-2124) is the area's surf travel service -- a much needed business in this neck of the woods.

As the industry epicenter for Central Florida and the rest of the coast, the inland areas between Melbourne and Cocoa are also home to heaps of board-builders. Besides big shop brands like Lightwave, Natural Art and Quiet Flight, there are larger factories such as R and D (321-636-4456) -- which is headed up by Ricky Carroll and planes shapes like RC's and Local Motion -- and Matt Kechele Surfboards (321-259-5443). There are also a bunch of indie guys: A.J. Finan cranks out Cannibal boards (321-779-0078), Sebastian's most infamous brothers Jeff and Glenn Klugel (321-676-5008) do Seven Seas and GAK Shapes, respectively, Dave Hamilton makes Vector surfboards (321-723-3100) and perhaps the most innovative board-maker on whole the East Coast Greg Loehr, offers personal designs and epoxy materials at Resin Research (321-779-2369).

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