Paddle Plan It

We recently when on a trip that involved paddleboarding in Florida along the Gulf Coast. You can find out about the fabulous place we rented here. This gulf coast vacation rental was one of the best Florida vacation rentals for paddleboarders I have ever seen!

This site may contain affiliate links. (Read full disclosure here).

man paddleboarding in Florida along the gulf at sunset — Paddleboarding in Florida at Sunset felt like a dream!

Paddleboarding in Florida Right From Our Vacation Home

During our trip, we paddle boarded multiple times a day. Each day was a new experience. We saw fish, sting rays, and dolphins. In fact, we saw dolphins every day during our stay! See our paddleboarding in the gulf of Florida recap video here to see our close encounters with dolphins.

man paddleboarding in Florida along the gulf coast — Paddleboarding in front of our home for a week– Magic!

girl paddleboarding in Florida — We went paddleboarding in Florida everyday on our trip!

Mother and daughter paddleboarding in Florida among the mangrove trees — We stayed at a vacation rental called Optimystical Vista. This rental had water on 3 sides. To the front, you saw the Gulf of Mexico. On the sides of the property, you saw waterways with mangrove trees.

girl in paddleboarding in Florida — Access to the water was only a few steps from our rental!

girl paddleboarding in Florida Gulf — Dolphins would swim right up to us while we were paddleboarding in the Florida gulf. If you look to the right in this picture, you can see a streak of water. That is the dolphin about to approach me. You can see just how close the dolphins were to us in this video.

Paddleboarding in the Gulf on my iRocker sup

girl paddleboarding in the Florida Gulf in front of the Optimystical Vista Vacation house. — Paddleboarding in Florida in front of our Vacation house!

Boy on a dock and man on a paddleboard at Sunset in the Florida Gulf — We loved looking our at the gulf from our dock or paddleboarding in Florida at Sunset

The Most Convenient Vacation Home for Paddleboarding in Florida

We stayed at Optimystical Vista, which was surrounded by water on three sides. To go for a paddle, we went straight from the garage to the water in just a few steps. The house we rented also had kayaks and a canoe we could use. We used them some but mostly paddled with our own iRocker inflatable standup paddleboards. We kept them inflated in the garage so that we could go paddleboarding at a moment’s notice.

Optymystical Vista Vacation Rental Garage with views of the water — Our iRocker paddle boards in the garage before we inflated them. You can also see the kayaks that came with the house.

Rainbows and Dolphins

iRocker paddleboard in the water, a rainbow in the background. — iRocker iSup and a Rainbow- Magic

We regularly saw rainbows when we paddled after an afternoon shower. Dolphins also swam by our paddleboards EVERY day! We we able to catch the experience on video here.

girl paddleboarding in Florida, a rainbow in the sky — Paddleboarding with a rainbow!

a man paddleboarding in Florida with a Rainbow in the sky — More rainbows!

Kayaking and Canoeing in the Gulf

We mostly paddled using our own paddleboards, but this Florida Gulf Coast Vacation Rental came complete with kayaks, a canoe, and floats. We took the kayaks and canoes out a few times.

boy on a kayak in front of the Florida mangroves — One of the kayaks from our vacation rental

girl on a canoe in front of Optimystical Vista — We also used the canoe that came with our vacation rental

Paddleboarding in Florida’s Weeki Wachee Springs

We also paddle boarded down the river of Weeki Wachee Springs. Weeki Wachee Springs was only about 5 minutes for our gulf coast vacation rental. This water was a beautiful crystal clear aqua blue. You can read all about our Weeki Wachee Springs River Paddleboard trip here.

girl paddleboarding in Florida down the Weeki Wachee springs river — Weeki Wachee Springs River

Paddleboarding in Florida’s Inner Coastal Waterways

On another trip, we paddle boarded in the inner coastal waterways near Turtle Beach, Fl. We also attempted to paddleboard at Siesta Key Beach. You can read more about this paddleboarding in Florida trip here.