Siesta Key Beachfront Vacation Rental Menu

Siesta Village Area | Crescent Beach | Point of Rocks | Turtle Beach

April 2007 Beach Renourishment

Over $11 million was spent adding more sand to the badly eroded beach here on south Siesta Key. The sand used to be a coarse brown sand with a high content of shell fragments. Now the sand is a gray color with bits of shell fragments. The gray sand looks very dark when wet and now resembles the dark sand on the Venice area beaches. But, the beach is probably 200 feet wide now, as compared to 20 to 50 feet wide before the new sand was brought in. Turtle beach still has a steeper slope than other beaches on Siesta Key and the sand is much softer and harder to walk on. You cannot ride your bike on the Turtle beach. The sand is too soft. Crescent Beach and Siesta Public beach are much better suited for children younger than 8 years old, and for walking or bike riding.

Turtle Beach, Sarasota Beachfront Vacation Rentals

Turtle Beach is located at the southern end of Siesta Key in Sarasota. Midnight Pass Road will take you to Turtle Beach. Actually, Midnight Pass Road continues past Turtle Beach for a short distance before it dead-ends. Turtle Beach is reached by a spur road called Blind Pass Road, which parallels the beach before disappearing into a private condominium called Fisherman's Cove.

Casey Key is immediately to the south of Siesta Key and is a separate community. The two islands, Siesta Key and Casey Key used to be separated by Midnight Pass. This pass is now filled in with sand, so the two islands are now joined. However, there is no road going across Midnight Pass, therefore you cannot drive from one island to the other.

Turtle Beach is unique because this part of Siesta Key is very narrow. Not only is it narrow, but there is a lagoon in the middle of the island that separates the narrow beach strip from the bay side of the island. So, there is not a lot of land here to be developed.

The Turtle Beach, Sarasota area has a lot of condominiums of two to four levels. The condominium furthest south on Siesta Key is called Fisherman's Cove. It sits right on the beach. The other condominiums, along with several restaurants and a Marina, are on the bay side of the island. Many of the condominiums offer vacation rentals.

The main attraction on Turtle Beach is quiet. There is almost no commercial activity in this area other than a few (very good) restaurants and a small marina. The public beach access is responsible for more than half the traffic in the area.