Fort Island Beach

Cute little beach. Not super big but the sand is white and relatively clean. The only restrooms are port o potties now. The drive out to this spot is a long curvy road thats full of palm trees on either side. I love to see it. Sometimes you can see dolphins in the distance. Waves are extremely small so if you seek bigger go to the east coast. It's a hell of a lot more peaceful if you get lucky on a day where many people aren't out. Lots of people from out of state and people playing music out loud instead of just enjoying the water. Makes me wonder why they come all the way from home to THIS beach of all places? Its about what you'd expect from a small local beach. If you're a tourist I'd definitely say go bigger. There's no real reason to fill this small place up any more than it is.

Not that great of a beach compared with about 95% of all other "real" beaches in Florida, but most of this area of Florida that runs from Weeki Watchee to St. Marks (i.e., the Nature Coast and Big Bend) has no natural beaches because its all mangrove or salt marsh and there is no way for mother nature to make sand via crashing waves from the Gulf. The white sand here has all been trucked in, probably from the Panhandle or the Clearwater area to the south. It's good quality sand, but the water right off the beach is muddy and murky and so is the shallow bottom. There used to be a public fishing pier here just north of this beach, but it was heavily damaged by Hurricanes, so it looks like it's been condemned and will be torn down before it can be re-built.......if it ever will. The area around the wooded area in front of the pier is all fenced off and posted with no trespassing signs. There is plenty of parking here (probably 150 spaces or more), but they only have porta-johns for restrooms along the parking lot since the fixed restrooms were also destroyed by Hurricane storm surge in 2024. It's not a beautiful beach by any stretch of the imagination because of the muddy water right off the shoreline, but if you're bored and in the Crystal River area, and feel the urge get that "beach-like" experience, or you're a sun worshiper, it will due to scratch your itch.

Very pretty and quiet area. The boardwalk and pier are not open due to hurricane damage. Beautiful sunset. White fine sand. Cold day so beach to ourself to enjoy the wind and waves as the sun set.

A little beach on the gulf coast. Its not the nicest sand, but its better than nothing! There were quite a few people there to watch the sunset on January 1st. We could see dolphins playing not too far from the shore. There used to be a pier, but it was destroyed by the hurricane in 2024. Hopefully they will be able to replace it at some point.

Nice little beach. Plenty of parking. Soft sand. Not a huge beach so not much to do here. We came here to see the sunset and it was beautiful.