Mission Beach is way crowded with tourists to the point of being absolutely ridiculous, and Pacific Beach (including Turmo and Wind-N-Sea, etc) is mostly for surfers. you can surf Ocean Beach during certain times, but then they call the surfers out so people can swim and boogie board. it’s right next to Dog Beach, where you can take your dog and play fetch in the water, etc.

great place to relax and hang out, but I’m not sure I’d want to live there…