Bethune Beach:
Leaving the Inlet and heading south, you’ll come to Flagler Avenue, which is the main road leading onto and off of the beach in New Smyrna. It will also take you west to the larger pipelines of I-95 and U.S. 1. You’ll know it from a host of surf shops, including Inlet Charlie’s and Quiet Flight. Flagler Avenue actually has a beachbreak out back with a small boardwalk, but the waves are always smaller than the Inlet. You’re better off zipping 15 minutes south to a break called Bethune Beach.
To get there, leave Flagler Avenue and head south on A1A about five miles, until you see the sign for Bethune Beach, and immediately start looking for a dirt road on the left. You can see the park from the road, but be careful — it’s easy to miss and you can drive right by it. It has parking, a bathhouse, a snack shack and lifeguards in summer. This break is much less crowded and is a mellow alternative to the New Smyrna frenzy. It’s a south swell spot that breaks from the outside all the way through, and can wedge up and bowl on the inside. The wave is only good when the swell is over 3 feet, and can handle a much larger swell than New Smyrna Inlet.
South of Bethune Beach, you hit Cape Canaveral National Seashore, which is pretty secluded, having a nude beach at the fifth parking lot. All the breaks are your standard sandbars and serve as your last North Florida options; to surf further south, you must first go west to U.S. 1 and head down to Playalinda, which is the first of the Central Florida breaks.