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    Emerald Wake

    5.0 (1 review)
    Closed 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

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    1 year ago

    Hamish is a great instructor! Doesn't rush you and takes great video of you foiling! What a blast! HIGHLY recommend Emerald Wake and Hamish!

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    Hamish D.

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    Seaoats Beach Service

    Seaoats Beach Service

    2.5(6 reviews)
    3.7 mi

    These crooks steal all the space on the beaches by filling them with empty chairs and then charge…read morepeople to rent them. Arriving on the beach, you can't even see the ocean unless you walk in front of them. Frankly, this should be illegal. It made us furious every time we came to the beach as we had to walk a long ways before we were free from the wall of empty chairs.

    Hard for me to believe that this company hasn't been reviewed ever, good or bad…read more I didn't rent from them as of yet this year, but we got two free chairs and an umbrella last year with our house rental in Rosemary Beach. This year I found that it was not included in my stay on arrival. We have a couple of cheap beach chairs, so no problems there. Early each morning, young men wearing shorts and sunglasses come out an set up what seems to be a mile of green an white chairs an umbrellas for guests that rent them. Every so often, they leave a gap-for us regular folks. A 30 ft. gap. Seems pretty generous doesn't it? Well, let me tell you. Don't put your chairs in the wrong spot. There is a brown umbrella back by the sand dunes. That's the bossman apparently. I found a spot that the company was not using which appeared to be a gap to me. I dropped my chairs there, and as I turned, that guy was not casually walking, but making a beeline to me. First he asked me if I was renting from them. (Gotta make sure he doesn't talk to a customer sideways.) I told him that I didn't think we were renting from them this year. He informed me, in case I didn't know, they have a contract for the first two rows on the beach. And furthermore, I would have to fit my family in the gap between the chairs if I wanted to sit on the beach and see more than just the sand between my chair and the big green chairs. He told me that if I left my chairs there, "I'm afraid someone might move them." I was getting a little upset and was doing my best to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to ask him "are you going to move them?" but I didn't. I relented and started walking away with my Walgreens' chairs. As I walked away, he continued to lecture me on why they have the right to do whatever. I turned and told him that I understood him very well and there was no need to continue lecturing. My guess is that that they can't move anyone's things, but they try to bully people into moving it for them by saying CONTRACT! CONTRACT! CONTRACT! I should have asked to see this contract and perused it will in my chair-that wasn't taking up any of their room. In fact, this occurred several hours after they set up their chairs. It just so happens that after our "conversation" that they quickly put up a bunch of chairs and umbrellas where I had placed my chairs beforehand. I'm sure they are great to rent from, but if you aren't renting from them, they seem to be nothing more than monopolists on a private beach and beach bullies. If you want to see the ocean from your seat on the beach, it seems that you will either have to fit your family in the so-called gap, or rent from Sea Oats Beach Service.

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    Seaoats Beach Service - Every inch of beach filled with their empty chairs. Awful. Should be illegal.

    Every inch of beach filled with their empty chairs. Awful. Should be illegal.

    Seaoats Beach Service
    Seaoats Beach Service

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    Gusu Paddle & Surf - Never too young!

    Gusu Paddle & Surf

    4.4(7 reviews)
    23.3 mi
    $$

    Poor communication, tardy service, and a lackluster customer experience are low marks for this…read moreplace. I found the paddleboard rental offer online before I started on vacation, and I booked the rental online prior to my trip. I specifically booked my rental for two hours, starting at 9 am, thinking I would have enough time to learn, get my full two hours of paddleboarding done, and make a happy memory. Unfortunately, the shop didn't open until 9 a.m. and although I showed up at 8:45 a.m. thinking that I would be a bit early so I could learn a little bit before the start of the rental term, no one was on site until the owner of the shop pulled up after 9 am. She apologized, letting me know she couldn't find her keys and was running late because of that. Then, after I voiced my discontent with the tardiness, noting that I had booked a snorkeling trip to start exactly two hours later, she began to discuss how the lessons and rental are done by someone else and were out of her hands. She further described to me an argument that she and the person running the rental program had the night before, leading to the current tardiness of the instructor/rental coordinator. The rental coordinator finally showed up at about 9:10 a.m., making no apology or greeting me at all, but instead, heading straight back to the office. He then came out at about 9:15 a.m., and finally apologized for starting late, after which he grabbed some equipment, loaded it into a wagon, and directed me to follow him out the door and across the street to the dock, where the paddleboards were stored. From there, the paddleboarding experience wasn't bad. He went out onto the water with me and showed me the basics, and then left me to my own enjoyment. I was out on the water for about 45 minutes, before finally tiring in my legs due to the constant ebb and flow of the water. Overall, the experience wasn't a good one, and with the availability of many SUP rental locations throughout Destin, there's no reason to repeat this experience for anyone.

    My friend and I had such an awesome experience with GUSU and Brett. We had never gone paddle…read moreboarding before this, so we are super beginners. The price was extremely reasonable compared to other rental places. We called and set up a meeting time and location with Brett. He was sooooo courteous to call us close to our meeting time to let us know that the conditions aren't good, especially for beginners and he's willing to reschedule with us. It was apparent that he cared about our safety and level of enjoyment more than profit. We were able to reschedule later in the day when the wind and waves died down. He gave us a quick lesson and we were off into the Norregio bay ! The wind ended up picking up so we weren't able to go down the canal but we had an awesome time and Brett made the experience memorable and fun! We'll definitely be using GUSU's again if we're back in Destin. Hopefully the weather is better and we can explore more places !

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    Gusu Paddle & Surf - Logo

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    Gusu Paddle & Surf
    Gusu Paddle & Surf - Sunset paddleboard

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    Sunset paddleboard

    Emerald Wake - surfschools - Updated May 2026

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