Siesta Key Florida Snorkeling

Siesta Key Sarasota Florida

The Point of Rocks is located just off the Siesta Public Beach. It has long been known as one of the best snorkeling havens around.  The only problem is I haven't been out there yet.

Sure it's on my to do list.  But for now that isn't going to help us with this page.  So I interviewed my good friend Alex, who is a certified dive instructor and taught down in the Bahamas for a while.  

He loves to go snorkeling at the Point of Rocks and heads out there twice a week.  He suggests that flippers, mask and snorkel are all you need for a great adventure.

He is definitely not an early riser so he has perfected a routine that allows for his laid back schedule.  

First trick, he only goes during the week.  This is due to lack of good parking spots.  The parking at beach access #5 is very limited.  But not a lot of people know about it.  It's located directly across the street from Crescent Beach Grocery and Captain Curt's Village.  (If the access parking is full, he parks in Captain Curts lot.  I on the other hand do not condone such behavior;-)

Siesta Key Crescent Beach

Now head west my friend, towards the water.  You are now on Crescent Beach.  As you reach the water line turn left.  You will now be heading south for about a hundred yards or so.  When you see the huge rocks and a wall that deters you from going any further, you're there.

Now a lot of people go onto the wall and down the steps.  This is a bad idea.  More than one person have slipped on the slippery steps.  Not to mention you then have to put your flippers on while standing on more slippery rocks, depending on the tide.

Best advice, enter from the nice sandy beach just before you get to the big rocks.  This will allow you to walk out a bit on nice, soft sand. Then as the water becomes deeper, swim out the rest of the way toward the underwater rocks.

Once you see the rocks under water, head south, the direction the rock formation runs.  I here the sheer amount of sea life around the rocks is amazing.

Alex talks about seeing schools of Florida Snapper, Stone Crabs, Sea Turtles, Snook, and large amounts of brightly colored tropical fish.

They love the underwater rocks since they're a natural reef.  The reef is about 20 yards wide in some places and very long running parallel to the shore.  Depending on the tide you will mostly be in about 15 feet of water.

After all this talk about snorkeling I bet my next update to this page will be my own Siesta Key Florida underwater adventure.  Now I just have to talk my wife into letting me go!!