Picture Perfect at Siesta Key

Blue-green waves crashed against the white sand

Leaving bath-like bubbles on the shoreline

For some the loud roaring of the sea is ominous

For me, it’s soothing enough to fall asleep to. 

Siesta Key Beach is often named the most beautiful beach in Florida, so naturally, I had been itching to check it out. On one of those “perfect weather for the beach” afternoons that are common in these parts, we drove down Florida’s Interstate 75 to get to the island the beach is named after – Siesta Key.

Like a lot of beach towns here, it’s packed with residential buildings; which means parking is often difficult to find because most of it is reserved for residents. It’s even worse on weekends when the beach is more populated than normal.

Before we parked successfully, we had a scuffle with another driver over the last available parking spot. It was the quintessential battle of “who got there first?” and I knew we did, but the competing driver didn’t think so which didn’t matter because I was determined. We had been looking for parking for a long time, so I was not about to acquiesce easily. After a few seconds of exchanging words to prove we were right, he let go and allowed us to park; but while we were at the beach, I couldn’t help but wonder if he was annoyed enough to do damage to our car. It was a rental vehicle, I did NOT want to deal with that kind of stress.

Tip: head down to the beach early in the day if you don’t want to spend 30mins to 1hr looking for parking. The nicer the day, the more packed the beach will be. 

Siesta Key beach was pristine. Picture perfect, if you will. It wasn’t just the sand that was clean but the beachfront and surrounding areas too. Nobody needs or wants a messy beach. 

The sand here is white and extremely fine, and because it’s usually windy at Siesta Key, it tends to get on everything. However, the same wind is great for dusting sand off of things like sheets and towels at the end of the day. A friend told me it wasn’t windy when she went so you might be lucky. We weren’t. I spent a good amount of time cleaning sand from my eyes and hair.

In some spots, the water was closer to turquoise than blue and -despite the wind- we had a good time wading in it, allowing the saline-filled water to roll off our bodies.

A few moments later, my friend Jess & I lay down on our blanket to air dry + chat while the guys played frisbee. It was one of those afternoons where talking came easy so we lay there having conversations about our short-term futures, a time that felt good to talk to someone else about but also one we didn’t want to burden ourselves with. Moving to different cities, finding jobs, it all seemed too “adult” and out of place, and maybe we both felt it when we shut our eyes for a short nap, a reprieve of sorts from life’s realities.

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Before the sun set, we packed up our beach gear, dusted off as much sand as would possibly come off and hopped into our car (which stayed exactly how we left it) to find food before the drive back to Tampa.

I’m still on my tour of Florida’s beaches so I think it’s too early to call Siesta Key THE most beautiful beach in Florida. Although, it is easily one of the nicest beaches I’ve been to in the sunshine state.

What are some of your favorite beaches in Florida or around the world? Leave me a comment so I can add them to my list!

As always,

thank you for reading.

All photos shot and edited on iPhone 6S+

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Same footprints, different sands