Tigertail Beach, Marco Island, Florida
This account and these photos are from the week leading up to Hurricane Ian's landfall. The area was impacted, but I'm uncertain of how much it changed.
I love to research travel. My Pinterest bursting at the seams with travel destination info and I add to it nearly every day. By the time I arrive on a location, I have a list of places I want to go and things I want to see, yet always leaving room for the unexpected and any insider information I can gather from the locals. Something good to know about Marco Island is that all beaches are private, except South Beach and Tigertail Beach.
We flew into Fort Myers, grabbed our rental car and headed south to the J.W. Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort. My husband had business to conduct while we were in town, so I was on my own to explore most of the time.
While I had access to the pristine Marriott beach, I like to explore and after my research, Tigertail was at the top of my list of intriguing things. It's said to be one of the most beautiful beaches with some of the best shelling and wildlife that you can find, but getting there is sort of a choose-your-own-adventure kind of game. You have choices to make as soon as you enter through the guard shack and pay your $10 parking fee. One way or another, you will have to traverse a lagoon to get to Tigertail. Will you go around or through? There are pros and cons to either choice.
If you choose to go around, you'll need to park as far toward the south end of the parking lot as possible. If you choose to go through, you'll need to park as far toward the north end as possible. There are very nice restroom facilities and a pay kiosks at both ends, if the guard shack was unmanned upon your arrival.
Once you find a spot and have your parking ticket placed on the dash of your car, find the nearest boardwalk and set out through a pretty dense jungle-y area. About 10-15 minutes later, you'll emerge from the forest and out onto the open beach of the lagoon. Once here, the real adventure starts.
If you chose to go around, you're going to take a left and head off down a little beach road. It's about a 20 minute walk and you'll come out onto an open beach, but keep to your right and make the corner around the lagoon and out to the tiger's tail part of the beach.
If you chose to wade, you're going to head to the right toward the observation tower. That's the shallowest part of the lagoon and easiest place to cross. It can vary from knees to chest deep, depending on the tide, so keep that in mind. Anything you want to take with you will have to be carried over your head during this portion of the trek. Once you arrive at the other side of the lagoon, you're going to head back into the dense jungle-y stuff through a narrow channel of water that flows in and out of the lagoon with the tide. About 15-20 minutes later, you'll have made it to the beautiful Tigertail Beach.
From there, the 'tail of the tiger' stretches out to the north for 3 miles. Nothing but powdery white sand, shells for days and an abundance of wildlife.
On this trip, I made two separate visits to Tigertail. The first time that I went, my goal was to watch the sunset from there. I was armed with all my knowledge and geared up for an exciting adventure. In my mind, I was picturing powdery white sand and perfectly clear waters that would look like a travel commercial as I casually strolled through paradise. However, when I arrived the lagoon, that was not what I found. It has sand, but it's mixed with mud. The kind of mud that will suck your flip-flops off your feet when you get close to the water and once you step into the lagoon, there's grass. You can't see it, it's under the surface and the water is definitely not clear. I paused. The feeling of that mud gripping my feet, that I can't even see in ankle deep water and that grass between my toes...I withdrew. Nope, not doing that. Especially since there's another way, I'll just go around, thank you. So, I headed down the beach path at a very quick pace, because now I'm racing the clock on sunset.
It's a nice walk around the mangrove, super flat and the sand is not so deep that it's a workout to trudge through. I arrive and it's beautiful, but its really starting to get dark now and I still have to hike back to my car. There was no time for exploring and the wildlife was already settled in for the night, so I grabbed a few shots of the blue hour, took a deep breath and soaked it in for a moment and then headed back toward the parking lot. Walking very swiftly now, light is fading fast and I'm alone. Further down the beach path I can make out a man coming toward me. For a split second I thought, 'is this how it ends?' 'I always knew it'd be one of my crazy photo ideas that got me.' I moved to the far right of the path and he moved to my far left so we could pass with as much room between us as possible and he said hello in a very friendly voice. Probably to try to put me at ease a little bit. I said hi and kind of waved and followed him with my eyes all the way past. Geez, now I'm back around the lagoon and still have to go back through the jungle to my car. I was the only one left though, the park was completely deserted in the dark.
My second trip to Tigertail was on a day that my husband had a few hours to spare. I had told him about my first attempt and that I really wasn't satisfied. I felt like there was more that I missed out on because I took the safe route, plus I didn't have time to explore. He suggested we go and have another look during the day and if I still don't like the looks of the lagoon, then we'll just go around again. Either way, I get to have more time on the beach that I had looked forward to and he'll get to enjoy it with me.
Fast forward, we're standing in front of the lagoon. I'm giving him the low-down on how it's done and what had stopped me before. He says he'll wade into the lagoon and check it out for me. After he looks around and gives the all clear, I can see how deep it is on him and feel that I can safely hold my camera over my head and get to the other side without any problems. I trudge in. Just trying not to think about the ick under my feet as the grass flosses my toes. That didn't prove to be too hard once the Thor Lightening Warning System started blaring its sirens about three-fourths of the way across the lagoon. We looked at each other and agreed that we had come too far to turn back now. We were committed. We pushed ahead. On the narrow trail through the mangrove, we would have to stop and turn to the side to let people pass that were fleeing back to their cars for shelter. I was just praying that it didn't open up and downpour since I had no way of protecting my camera out there. By the time we reached Tigertail, the sun was shining again. Perfect. We made it.
There was a lovely breeze. The sea was warm and inviting. Beautiful. I meandered along, picking up the occasional shell. There are so many, its hard to choose just the right one. My husband stopped and got in the ocean and I snapped a shot of him. Kept strolling and came upon some white ibis' feeding. Stopped and watched and photographed them for a while. By this time, my husband had came out of the ocean and was catching up with me down the beach. Just as he got to me, we came into a clearing where all that was separating the beach and the lagoon was a dune of shells. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a roseate spoonbill. I've never seen this bird in the wild before. I gasped and took off as fast as I could go barefoot across sharp shells. My husband didn't know what was happening. He was just trying to keep up because something must be going on if I'm moving fast. He and his tender feet finally caught up and was trying to see what the fuss was about and I showed him the birds...he was not impressed. He's thinking our lives are in danger, but no...just birds. I spent some time with them and we decided it was time to head back for his next meeting. The reverse trek was pretty uneventful, except for a gaze of raccoons that we ran into in the forest near the parking lot.
In the end, it was a great experience that I'd absolutely do again. I'd love to wander the whole 3 mile stretch of the 'tiger's tail'. Maybe next time. For now, I'll just reminisce with my photos and share my experience in hopes that others will be encouraged to be adventurous, too. I so appreciate my husband for experiencing this adventure with me and pushing me ahead when I was second-guessing myself.
