I love coming to the beach in the off season.

There's no people to fight with. It's rainy and cool out. I wasn't going to get in the water anyway, but this time of year, and in this part of the world, it's nice and warm if you decide to.

This beach specifically rarely sees violent storms (although it's rained the whole time we've been here) and has easy access to lots of historic sites and nature preserves and things of that ilk.

So I got to stand in the waves, walk on a legitimately empty beach, spend an hour watching manatee, tour a several hundred year old Spanish encampment, and I've rarely been around more than three other people.