Don Pedro Island State Park
Placida, FL
Don Pedro Island State Park covers a barrier island south of Boca Grande, reachable only by private boat or kayak through a channel off the Intracoastal Waterway. A mile and a half of undeveloped Gulf beach faces open water, with sea turtles nesting on the sand from May through October and almost nobody around to see it.
A mile and a half of genuinely undeveloped beach that most visitors never reach keeps it a real local secret, though needing a boat just to get there limits how often most people make the trip.
How we score beachesDock on the bay side near marker 35 and follow the trail across to the Gulf beach, it's a short walk but easy to miss without knowing the marker number ahead of time. Bring your own kayak if you have one, the island's racks let you store it for the day.
There's no vehicle access to the island. The park charges 2 dollars per person at a self-pay station near the dock, boat or kayak is the only way in.
A short trail crosses from the bay-side dock to the Gulf beach, unpaved and over natural ground. There's no boardwalk, so it's a walk over sand and low vegetation the whole way.
Leashed dogs are welcome in the park, but they aren't allowed on the beach itself.
Sea turtle nesting runs May through October, worth timing an early morning visit around if that interests you. Hurricane season overlaps the same months, so check conditions before making the boat crossing in summer or fall.
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