2026 Update:
Since the recent dredging, it is no longer so easy to wade across the lagoon to Tigertail Beach.  Even at low tide, you’ll need to traverse depths of nearly 5 feet in most places to get across to the Gulf.

Original post from 2024

Recently, we visited Tigertail Beach for the first time since Hurricane Ian came through in late September of 2022.

Tigertail is one of our favorite beaches in southwest Florida, but with all the disruption caused by the Hurricane, we had gotten out of our good habit of making frequent day trips to that narrow strip of beach at the north end of Marco Island, just south of Keeywadin Island.

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High Tide Lagoon Crossing

Wading across the lagoon to get from the Tigertail Beach parking lot out to the actual beach is always an adventure and, most often, an exhilarating sensory experience.

A few years ago, I was wading across the lagoon, alone, in the misty twilight just before dawn to enjoy some early morning fishing from the beach

The rising tide was nearing its apex, and all was peaceful, calm, and serene.

Then suddenly and without warning, the tranquility and stillness violently erupted, and my heart leapt into my throat as some huge, yet unseen creature or creatures thrashed and boiled surface of the water.

Initially I feared the worst, but as the disturbance subsided just a quickly as it began and as by heart rate returned to normal, I realized that I had probably waded into a small group of slumbering manatees.

For more information on the lounger I use in the video above click here: Chillmonkee Self-Inflating Lounger. This is from a small family business owned by friends of ours. Be sure to also take a good beach umbrella, as there are no shelters on the beach, and you’ll need something to protect you from the intense sun rays.

Through the Mangrove Tunnel

Once you’ve waded your way across the lagoon, it is about another hundred-yard stroll through a mangrove-lined corridor to reach the beach.There will be a lot of slishing and sloshing, so be sure you are wearing water shoes that stay on even in the muck. Flip flops won’t stand a chance!

Open and Expansive Views of the Gulf of Mexico

Emerging from the mangroves and out onto the beach, I never tire of that initial jolt of the breath-taking, open, and panoramic view of the blue-green water and waves expanding out to the horizon where it meets the clear blue sky.

On Up Around the Bend

From the lagoon crossing, we usually move north and up to the more secluded areas of Tigertail.

You can walk all the way up to where the beach curves around to Big Marco Pass.

The shelling is amazing. You never know what you might find!

For many years there was a sunken sailboat just south of that pass, but this last time we were there, I could no longer find it.

I liked to imagine and pretend that it was my sailboat that I had run aground, and yet I survived, so I do miss it.

Returning at Low Tide

It was much easier to cross the lagoon at low tide.

The awesome thing about low tide is that you can watch thousands of tiny fiddler crabs scurrying here and there. They will run to the safety of the mangrove roots, or bury themselves in the sand if there is no time to run.