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Playalinda Beach 36.6

#4991 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇺🇸 United States of America · Florida · near Titusville

Wind is the enemy here, peaks in September, gentle enough to learn.

Warm waterBeginner friendlyBeginner
Playalinda Beach, United States of America
Photo: NPS staff · Public domain · source
Surf score36.6 /100
Surfable days66% of the year
Clean days4% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell6% period 11 s+
Typical size0.7 m 2.3 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Playalinda Beach

The best time to surf Playalinda Beach is January, March, September. It rarely works. In September the water sits around 29°C, so pack boardshorts, and the typical wave is 0.7 m. and the nearest town is Titusville (18 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan77%6%0.9 m20°C2mm
Feb81%2%0.8 m18°C3/2
Mar86%6%0.8 m21°C2mm
Apr77%2%0.8 m23°Cvest
May75%2%0.7 m26°Cboardies
Jun37%0%0.6 m27°Cboardies
Jul28%0%0.5 m28°Cboardies
Aug26%0%0.5 m29°Cboardies
Sep71%13%0.7 m29°Cboardies
Oct75%6%0.7 m26°Cboardies
Nov86%3%0.9 m23°Cvest
Dec74%6%0.8 m21°C2mm

What is under Playalinda Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 50 m.

Depth 8 km out50 m
Depth 4 km out31 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 36.6

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
5.8
Best days 22.4%
5.0
Clean days 18.4%
1.3
Consistency 10.2%
7.7
Season spread 4.1%
3.0
Water comfort 6.1%
4.9
Access 4.1%
4.0

The detail

Faces 55° with 50% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 68% of days. Mean peak period 7.9 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.3 m, with a peak period of 9 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 83%. Months that work: 9 of 12. Coordinates 28.741, -80.695 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,000/ month
typically €1,760 – €2,240
Rent, one bedroom€1,050
Groceries€420
Eating out€240
Getting around€140
Phone + internet€150
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,900/ month
typically €3,430 – €4,370
Somewhere to stay€2,300
Eating out€820
Car, transfers, fuel€530
Data + extras€250
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for United States of America (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

Spots nearby

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