Jensen Beach causeway

The causeway is a mile of road across the Indian River Lagoon between the village and the island, and the county has turned both sides of it into a park. There are free boat ramps on the village end with a dock and a rinse station, catwalks under both bridges where people fish day and night, a beach on the lagoon side with calm water and no surf, picnic tables under the Australian pines, restrooms and the best place on the coast to watch the sun go down over the water.

It is the easiest water on the coast to get onto. The lagoon beach is shallow for a hundred yards and warm from May to October, kayaks launch straight from the sand, and the sandbars in the middle of the river are a twenty-minute paddle. Anglers work the catwalks for snook and trout on the tide, and in winter the manatees gather in the warm shallows near the bridge.

Traffic is the catch. On holiday weekends the causeway backs up from the drawbridge, and the lots fill by noon. Come early, or come at dusk when the beach crowd has gone and the sunset crowd has not arrived.

Good to know

• The boat ramps are free and have a dock; trailer parking is marked.
• The lagoon beach has no lifeguards and no surf.
• Fishing from the catwalks needs a Florida licence unless you are under sixteen or over sixty-five and a resident.
• The drawbridge opens on demand and the road stops when it does.
• Sunset is the busy hour; bring a chair.