— Tag

#boat-only

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Empty white-sand beach at Caladesi Island with dunes and beach grass in foreground, Gulf horizon
Hidden Spots

Caladesi Island — Florida's Boat-Only #1 Beach No One Talks About

Three miles of empty white sand named #1 USA Beach by Dr. Beach. No bridge, no buildings, no concessions — just a $16 ferry from Honeymoon Island, hourly, or your own boat. The Florida the developers never got their hands on.
Wide empty Gulf of Mexico beach with white sand and scattered seashells, distant tree line, no people visible, golden light
Hidden Spots

Cayo Costa — Nine Miles of Empty Gulf Beach You Can Only Reach by Boat

There's no bridge. There's no parking lot. There's a ferry from Pine Island or Captiva that drops you on a barrier island with nine miles of Gulf-facing beach, primitive cabins, and the best shelling in the United States. Most people who live in Florida have never been here.
Crumbling concrete fortification ruins overgrown with sea grape on a sandy barrier island with the Gulf of Mexico in the background
Hidden Spots

Egmont Key — A Spanish-American War Fort and a Tortoise Refuge in the Mouth of Tampa Bay

Stand at the mouth of Tampa Bay and look out — that island is Egmont Key. 1898 fortifications, a working 1858 lighthouse, and a federal wildlife refuge full of gopher tortoises. You get there only by boat. The ruins are the kind of place a movie scout would invent and an Army Corps engineer would call ridiculous.
Tropical hardwood hammock canopy with sunlight filtering through dense gumbo limbo and mahogany trees on a Florida Keys island
Hidden Spots

Lignumvitae Key — The Last Untouched Hardwood Hammock in the Keys

A 280-acre island off Lower Matecumbe accessible only by boat, where ranger-led tours walk you through what the Upper Keys looked like before anyone showed up with a chainsaw. Mahogany, gumbo limbo, and lignum vitae trees that pre-date the state of Florida.