Cocoa Beach Ranked #3 in Florida!

Cocoa Beach finished third in a statewide ranking of the best beaches. Clearwater Beach in the Tampa Bay area was number one. 

“They might be the best beach town, but we’re the funnest beach town,” said Dave Netterstrom, mayor of Cocoa Beach. 

USA TODAY had “Dr. Beach,” Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman, choose 10 Florida destinations that combine sand, surf and a welcoming sense of community. Readers then voted online to pick their favorites. 

Nearly 30,000 votes were received. Clearwater Beach took 25 percent of the votes, followed by Siesta Key, Cocoa Beach and Sanibel Island. 

Netterstrom said he had recently been in a discussion to start work on improving Cocoa Beach’s brand. He’d like to see a return of the reputation the area had during the Space Race – one of astronauts and celebrities sunning on the setting of “I Dream of Jeannie,” though the show was actually filmed in California. 

“We want to be the cool place to be,” Netterstrom said. He said he plans to hire an economic development director to market the city’s assets. 

“In a way, we’d like to brag about being the best beach town, but on the other end we’d kind of like to keep it a secret,” he said. “Maybe third is not a bad position to be in.”