Tahiti Beach — Attraction in Coral Gables

Googling from my South Miami Airbnb, I wanted the closest beach to spend my morning. I sorted "beaches near me" by distance and set out for Tahiti Beach.

Sixteen minutes later, after I passed the guard's visual search (I'm 68, white & male), a gate opened allowing me to drive for another five minutes past temple-size homes with immaculately sculpted lawns and long entry stairwells leading to 12-foot doors.

Samsung's directives bolstered my courage and guided me along its blue-lit path to my destination, now only a few turns away. Based on this curving colonnade of homes, Tahiti Beach would surely be more wonderous than any I had seen.

And lo, moments later the last gate appeared before promised paradise.

The young, beautiful guard stepped down from her post kindly asking where I was going. I heard, "password required"..

"I'm here to check out the beach," I replied.

"There's no beach here," she replied.

"Hmmm. Tahiti Beach?" I said, showing her my phone, "My GPS...."

She cut me off, "It's a community, not a beach."

And, no, I couldn't proceed through the gate to make my U-turn. I was instructed to make my U in reverse. I took a slightly different route back wishing I had mounted my GoPro. No one could believe these temple homes weren't built for gods.

Back at my Airbnb, Google Earth proved there was, in fact, a beach at the end of my route. It was a small beach in a protected cove adorning four more temple homes. No surf. Murky water. But Tahiti Beach is, indeed, a beach, not a...

One sad Star. As I sit on a beach on the island of Crete Greece watching my wife and son, my mother reminisces about Tahiti Beach and all the fun enjoyed as a little girl in the 50’s. She shared how privileged her family felt to sit on such a beautiful beach. “The best beach in Miami.” I love the reviews available here and the individual who tried to gain access is in no way ignorant for he can see Tahiti beach just as well as the old timers like my mother thanks to high definition satellite pictures. One sad Star is all we can give what was once such a beautiful place. The beach in this picture is of Rethymno, Crete, Greece and we can see the back side of Stavros Beach(our current hometown) where Zorba the Greek takes place. Access to this almost completely undisturbed paradise costs Zero Dollars… except for just a hand held up and short oath. Join the US Navy, see better and...

Back in the 50s and 60s Tahiti Beach, regardless of what the ignorant guard told one of the other reviewers, was a beach and accessible to the public. I don't know if it was private or public land, but there was nothing around and was a popular alternative to Matheson Hammock Beach right down the road. Both beaches were circular beaches that had only small openings where the ocean water could flow in and out.

On a nostalgia tour, I drove there only to be confronted by a guarded gate. I didn't bother to even talk to the guard and turned around and left.

I don't understand why people would give the beach a rating higher than one star since they never got to the beach in the first place. In fact, zero stars would be more...