Playa Linda: Florida's Best Beach

With the Gulf of Mexico to the west and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Florida's 1,350 miles of sandy, sunny, palm sprinkled coastline offer innumerable beach going days. As you can imagine, upon my return to the Sunshine State blue skies called my name and I flocked to the beach as much as possible.

You may think that with so much coast, it'd be hard to pick a favorite beach spot but for me, there is only one beach. Playa Linda aka "The Best Beach" between my friends and I. Unlike other eastern shores, cars are (thankfully!) not allowed at Playa Linda as it belong to a protected marine area belonging to the Canaveral National Sea Shore. And for those interested, clothing is optional in some areas too.

Playa Linda is 24 miles of undeveloped coast plump with sea turtle nests during the spring and summer months. No cars, no houses, no shops. Just a natural beach... as it should be. 

Playa Linda is literally means a beautiful beach as you can see…

Since receiving news of my acceptance to all three of my graduate school applications in the Netherlands (!) I knew my Florida beach time would soon come to a long pause. So, I quickly opted to soak up as much sunshine as possible and headed to the beach at least once a week before my time in Florida ran out. Spending time at the beach gave me a chance to quiet my mind from all the busy thoughts and to-do list for moving abroad again.

Before flying back to Holland, I spent one more day at Playa Linda following a morning of paddle boarding nearby. An impending storm was headed inland, and once a few raindrops sprinkled down, the other visitors packed up and left one by one. Eventually, we had the entire beach all to ourselves...

I'm writing this post back in Amsterdam and watching the gray clouds drizzle. I can't help but think back to the salty sea breeze, sun-pinched skin, and warm sand between my toes back in Florida. I love Amsterdam but the lack of sunny days will always be a struggle for me here. Rainy days may lend credit for my productivity, but I’m forever dreaming of sunshine.