Dog Beaches

If you own a dog in South Florida and have ever tried to take them to the beach, you know that most beaches are not pet-friendly.

There are some beaches designated specifically for those people who do want to bring along their pets.

Dog-friendly beaches include:

- The lighthouse beach in Pompano Beach

- Fort Lauderdale Canine Beach (annual permit required, $25 per dog) Sunrise Boulevard at A1A, North to lifeguard station #5, 100 yard section of beach (954-828-7275)

Commercial Pier Restaurant

Fort Lauderdale's Commercial Beach Pier is a good place to eat when the sun and the waves get your appetite going. The restaurant is part of the pier and provides fairly priced meals in the shade, though the portions are a little small. It's very touristy, but not with the jacked-up tourist prices. It's also an all outside patio restaurant, so you get the beach breeze during your meal, and it's fun to throw crumbs for the birds that hang around.

Kahunas Bar and Grill on Deerfield Beach is a good place to go for some laid-back fun.

It's a quirky beach-themed place with broken surfborads on the walls and great frozen drinks for the hot summer days and nights.

Thursday nights there's live music that's pretty decent as far as live bands at bars go.

Most times that I have gone I've liked that it's seemed like a local scene, although during the summer and spring break times the tourists do tend to invade the locale.

Kahunas Bar and Grill

249 NE 21ST Ave. Deerfield Beach, FL 33441-3802
Phone: (954) 725-0244

Skim Boarding

This sport is pretty simple and fun to learn...but be prepared for some falls and bumps when you're first starting out. The idea is to throw your skimboard onto the thin layer of water that rides up onto shore after a wave has broken. After throwing the board onto the thin layer of water, you run and hop onto the board, gaining your balance by keeping low, and riding the board further in toward the water.

The only equipment needed is a skimboard. There are different types of boards appropriate for different types of water and skimmers. A good choice of board for east coast ocean conditions is what's called the egg, hot dog, or trick shape. A good website explaining the different kinds of boards and which size to use in relation to you height and weight is Zapskimboards.

Also, a good directory for skimboarding spots in Florida can be found at http://skimonline.com/skim_spots/florida.htm

Kite Boarding

If you find yourself bored on a windy day you should go out and try the sport of kite boarding. It's a tough one to master, you have to learn to coordinate with both the wind and the water, but it's a great workout. You can kite board any good windy day.

There are some great places to learn here in South Florida including:

• http://www.southfloridakitesurfing.com/
• http://miamikiteboarding.com/
• http://www.eastcoastkiteboarding.com/

Kite boarding can be potentially dangerous for you or other beachgoers if you are not cautious with the sport and in the past some specific beaches in Florida have even banned it. Although most bans have been lifted, find beach bans and safety information at: http://www.kitemare.com/Save%20our%20Sport!.htm

Surfing

South Florida isn't the best-known spot in the world for good surfing waves, but we do get some decent ones during surfing season, which usually runs October- April. This year, however, we've been having some continuing wave weather and I've seen surfers out often...even this morning was good as far south as Fort Lauderdale's Commercial Pier.
If you've never surfed before, then you should probably get some basic lessons. Those can be expensive, but Island Water Sports http://islandwatersports.com/ in Deerfield Beach offers free lessons ever Saturday morning at 6 am. It's early, but it's well worth your time and the instructors are patient and teach well. IWS provides you with surfboards for the lessons (foam longboards so that you don't get hurt)- all you need is a swimsuit and sunscreen.
If you're determined to teach yourself, there's a stand right next to IWS that will rent out the boards all through the week, just make sure to have them turned back in by 5pm.

A good site for checking wave conditions before heading out to the beach is http://www.surfline.com/home/index.cfm