The Big Bend, where Florida's Gulf coast turns from the Panhandle down the peninsula, has almost no sandy beaches. The continental shelf off this coast is so wide and shallow that ocean waves lose most of their energy long before they reach land, and the rivers that drain into it carry little sand. Instead of beaches and barrier islands, the shore is salt marsh, oyster bars and scattered islands, and offshore lies one of the largest seagrass meadows in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Keaton Beach, a small fishing community in Taylor County, sits on the edge of that meadow. The seagrass beds are a nursery for fish, shrimp and crabs, and they are the reason the Big Bend is known for bay scallops. Each summer the scallop season draws crowds who snorkel the shallow grass flats around Keaton Beach and nearby Steinhatchee, gathering the scallops by hand. The state protects the beds within the Big Bend Seagrasses Aquatic Preserve, which covers nearly a million acres of submerged coast and is the largest aquatic preserve in Florida. The shallow shelf that stops waves also makes the coast vulnerable to storm surge, which piles up in the shallow water as a hurricane approaches. Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach in August 2023, Hurricane Debby came ashore near Steinhatchee in August 2024, and Hurricane Helene struck the same stretch of coast in September 2024: three hurricanes in thirteen months.
Getting there
29.8185, -83.5937
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop is an audio tour guide app that tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
