Surfing at Sebastian Inlet

Sebastian Inlet's surf breaks are First Peak beside the north jetty, the peaks just north of it, and Monster Hole, a shoal about a third of a mile off the beach south of the inlet (Florida State Parks).

Florida State Parks calls First Peak one of the most consistent surf breaks in Florida. The Encyclopedia of Surfing describes it as a wedging sand-bottom jetty break on the north side of Sebastian Inlet State Park, 15 miles south of Melbourne Beach (Encyclopedia of Surfing). North of it, Eastern Surf Magazine's coverage of the 2025 Florida Cup names Second Peak and Larry's Lefts, the latter named for the inlet photographer Larry Pope (Eastern Surf Magazine).

Monster Hole works differently. The state park describes it as not a hole but a shoal off the Indian River County side of Sebastian Inlet; the ocean floor rises there, and when the surf is big the waves line up and give a long ride.

First Peak came from engineering: the Sebastian Inlet District says lengthening the north jetty by 500 feet in 1968 and 1969 created what some argue was one of the best waves on the East Coast (Sebastian Inlet District history).

Cleary Brothers Construction Co. lengthened the north jetty by 500 feet for the district in that project, and the south jetty was capped in concrete right after, with work lasting into 1970. Surfers named the new wave First Peak. Today the district lists the north jetty at 1,000 feet and the south jetty at 575 feet (Sebastian Inlet District FAQ), so the break sits beside a structure twice as long as the one Sebastian Inlet had before 1968.

A new wave beside a popular fishing jetty meant conflict. Jack Forte, who ran the Crow's Nest fish camp at Sebastian Inlet, became an outspoken advocate for local fishermen, and the district records that fishermen and surfers clashed for months until signing a peace pact in April 1970, though the feud continued after it. Anglers and surfers still share the north side of the inlet.

The Florida Surf Museum dates the first documented surfing at Sebastian Inlet to 1959, six years before the bridge was built, when Dick Catri and friends from Miami rode waves breaking inside the inlet (Florida Surf Museum).

The inlet they found was young. The Sebastian Inlet District records at least six attempts to cut through the barrier island by 1905, an opening at the present site in June 1923, a closure by a nor'easter in 1941, and a final opening in 1948, when surplus U.S. Navy demolitions were used to blast the inlet open again; it has remained open ever since. The bridge opened on February 27, 1965, connecting A1A from Brevard to Indian River County across Sebastian Inlet.

The Encyclopedia of Surfing credits Sebastian Inlet with at least three generations of world-class surfers, including Mike Tabeling, Jeff Crawford, Matt Kechele, Kelly Slater and Lisa Andersen.

The Sebastian Inlet District makes the same point from the engineering side: its history says First Peak would produce world-class champion surfers in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, naming Matt Kechele and Kelly Slater. The encyclopedia entry also lists the 1977 Wave Rider Magazine Florida Pro among the contests held at the inlet. Contest history, from early pro events to club championships, is covered on the separate Sebastian Inlet surfing competitions page; this page keeps to the breaks and how they came to be.

First Peak depends on the north jetty and on the sand beside it, so each Sebastian Inlet District repair or sand bypass job alters the setting of the break.

The latest jetty job ran from November 2024 to mid-2025, when the district rebuilt about 210 linear feet of storm-damaged revetment on the Sebastian Inlet north jetty; the $2.5 million project reopened on June 30, 2025, ahead of schedule (Sebastian Inlet District history). The district is also responsible for bypassing sand that migrates into the inlet to the downdrift beaches, under the Florida Beach and Shore Preservation Act (Sebastian Inlet District FAQ).

That bypassed sand lands on the Indian River County beaches south of the inlet, the stretch facing Monster Hole. Its truck haul and beach placement project put about 135,000 cubic yards of sand on the south beaches by April 2025, and the contractor returned in November 2025 to dredge another 130,000 cubic yards from the channel and sand trap. An earlier placement in 2018 and 2019 covered a mile and a half of beach from the McLarty Treasure Museum south past the Ambersand beach access.

The beaches the surfers cross are also turtle beaches. Florida State Parks says the park and surrounding beaches have the largest nesting assemblage of sea turtles in the United States (Florida State Parks), and the Sebastian Inlet District notes that the inlet sits between two segments of the Archie Carr refuge, so sand work south of the inlet is timed around nesting season.

Surfers at Sebastian Inlet pay the state park entry fee of $8 per vehicle for two to eight people, and the park itself is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (Florida State Parks hours and fees).

Since November 12, 2025 the South Ranger Station on the Indian River County side keeps standard hours of 8 a.m. to sunset, while the North Ranger Station, the side closest to First Peak, stays open around the clock. A single-occupant vehicle pays $4, and pedestrians and bicyclists pay $2. Florida State Parks provides no lifeguards on the Sebastian Inlet beaches and asks beachgoers to follow the warning flags; double red flags mean no swimming because of high winds and undertow currents. Pets are not permitted on the beaches. Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the Florida State Parks website.

The park and the inlet have two managers. Florida State Parks, under the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, runs park access and rules, while the Sebastian Inlet District, created by the Legislature in 1919, maintains the jetties and channel that shape the breaks (Florida State Parks).