Blog The Beach

In late July I took my first trip to Sebastian Inlet State Park. I was really impressed with this beautiful Florida State Park.  I was on a four day road trip with my best friend from high school (boy, that was a long time ago!) Alex. Well, now he is Dr. Alexander Kerr, Assistant Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Guam Marine Lab. He was in Florida for several scientific conferences and had a few free days, so we got together and did a bit of beach hunting. Sebastian Inlet was one of our stops.

We arrived on a hot July weekday morning just before noon. The park straddles Sebastian Inlet, which has rock and concrete jetties on both sides. The main parking area on the north side is underneath the tall bridge that crosses the inlet. We headed straight for the beach at the most famous surf spot in Florida. There was a small swell in the water, but only a few beginner surfers. Not much for an experienced surfer to be interested in.

We took a walk up the beach looking for shells. I was snapping photos and Alex was picking up and identifying all kinds of shells.  It was ungodly hot, humid, and still. I took note of several things about the beach at Sebastian: First, the beach is quite steep; second, the shell fragments on the beach were not sharp and jagged like they are on many beaches, instead they are smooth and highly polished by the pounding surf; and third, the color of the water was really inviting.

A surfing summer camp for youth called Billabong Sebastian Inlet Surf Camp had their tent up on the beach, supervising a group of young surfers while a dark cloud grew in size in the southern sky. I decided I was overheating and suggested that we head for the jetty and look for a breeze.

The north jetty at Sebastian is a fine piece of engineering and is built with fishing in mind. It is very long and has plenty of room for hundreds of people, although there were only 30 or 40 on the jetty then. We caught a slight breeze out on the jetty and walked out to the end. The view is magnificent. Several people caught fish and we saw quite a few cannonball jellyfish swimming by.  The dark cloud continued to loom larger as we headed back to our cooler to get some cold drinks and lunch.

We took our food to a picnic area shaded by large sea grape trees as the breeze picked up, the sky grew dark, and thunder began to sound on the other side of the inlet.  We sat and talked about old times and Alex told me about his new house on Guam.  As teenagers we spent a lot of time together on Anna Maria Island beaches, surfing, beachcombing, playing our guitars on the beach, and foraging for various edible wild plants in the vacant lots around the island.

I wanted to walk over to the shallow lagoon and photograph it, but lightning was warning me to head for the car.  We’d have to come back the next day to finish exploring the park. No problem.

You can visit my Florida Beaches website called BeachHunter.net to see my photos and comments about our trip to Sebastian Inlet State Park.

And don’t miss the photos I took of snorkeling at Sebastian Inlet.

Snorkeling in Sebastian Inlet is quite popular, despite (or perhaps because of) the strong tidal currents. On a recent trip to the fabulous Sebastian Inlet State Park, I saw a dozen or so snorkelers climb down the rocks to the water, put on their gear, and hop in the water with their dive flag (to warn boaters away).

The incoming tidal current was very strong and carried the snorkelers along the rocks on the north side of the inlet, and under the bridge. The underwater visibility was fairly good, and I’m sure there were plenty of fish and other marine life for them to enjoy.

I always warn against swimming in inlets and passes, but with the right knowledge, experience, and gear, it can be a lot of fun, and reasonably safe. Not for the inexperienced.

Sebastian Inlet beaches have few shells. At least few whole shells. There are lots of shell fragments all over the beach and mixed in with the sand. In fact the shell fragments give Sebastian Inlet’s beaches a warm brown color. One of the things I noticed is that unlike most beaches in Florida, Sebastian Inlet beaches have quite a few highly polished shell fragments like those in the photo above. They look as though they’ve been in a rock tumbler for a month being polished to be made into jewelry.

This phenomenon is apparently the result of the powerful wave action near the jetty. This beach has a powerful shore pound and a steep beach, which seems to result in the shell fragments being abraded for long periods of time and achieving a high polish. I can’t think of any other explanation.

I also noticed a heavy shore pound down in the Vero Beach area, but I don’t recall finding the polished shells, so perhaps there are other factors as well at Sebastian.

The polishing really brings out the beautiful colors in the shells.

Above you can see the swells breaking forcefully directly on the sand at Sebastian Inlet. Some of these Atlantic ocean swells were 3 feet high as they smacked down on the sand with a powerful boom.