Sea Oats Beach — Attraction in Islamorada

This isn't your average, cozy beach spot for the faint-hearted or those content with following the beaten path. Sea Oats Beach is for the adventurers who like their trips with a side of existential crisis, who can handle a little chaos as their holiday seasoning. It exists, alright—just not where Google Maps might claim, serving up life lessons that you definitely didn’t ask for.

But if you’ve got the relentless resolve of an empire builder, or say, a reality TV president—because, come on, who doesn’t secretly fantasize about commanding international headlines with a tweet while running a country like it’s a prime-time show?—then welcome to the club. It's me, you, and all the other delusionals charging after phantom beaches like a bunch of lunatics on a scavenger hunt. Picture yourself on a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies, armed only with a GPS that’s clearly laughing behind your back, leading you on wild goose chases through the Keys’ less-than-stellar scenic routes. But hey, if you’re going to spiral, might as well do it on the hunt for paradise, right?

Every wrong turn on The Overseas Highway drags you deeper down a rabbit hole—a chaotic loop from highway to service road to bicycle paths that even WAZE— aficionado of the most convoluted paths known to man—would label as a hard pass, sinking you deeper into a bizarre South Florida postcard that NO one would ever send.

You're on a mission to find Sea Oats Beach, or whatever's left of it, even if it feels like trying to summon a lifeguard at a Florida Man pool party. They claim a hurricane wiped it off the map, but hey, since when do we let maps tell us what's real?

In Florida, if you’re not wandering off into the unknown, then you're probably just stuck in line at a theme park. Because let’s face it, the right track here inevitably leads through a swamp, past a gator, and straight into the arms of some eccentric local selling airboat rides. And if that's not the journey you're on, are you even doing Florida right?

So, would I recommend swinging by? Sure, if you’re the type who thinks 'getting a little lost' sounds like a fun afternoon and not a reason to call...

Courtesy of the Florida Keys Drone Pros who took these shots, we saw the beach before and after hurricanes! It survived the hurricanes because of the sea oats binding the sand to the land with the root network they have. The skinny beach runs alongside US1. Making it a very scenic highway! It’s on the ocean so northbound lane is best to see it close up. If you want to stop and walk on it best to pull over at Angelo’s the gas station nearby at the south end. It’s public. But it’s still recovering from that hurricane! For sure spend a moment sitting and looking at the water and the sky and the horizon! It is beautiful! This house #75051 Overseas Highway is right ON the beach. The one with the cylindrical turret and it is still has a for sale sign out front. Ocean Sotheby’s has it listed. Beach house on the ocean. Wouldn’t that be a brilliant place to live. I would. Would you? Off the dock and into the ocean with your own beach right there....

Passed by here but honestly, there isn't much of a beach, at least not in the traditional sense of having sand. It's more of a rocky shoreline with a small area of sand at either end. Parking is practically non-existant (there is no formal parking lot), which means if you plan to go here you will need to park on the side of the road or on the grassy shoulder (do so at...