Stuart, FL - Bathtub Beach is open to the public once again but it isn’t back to full capacity just yet and probably won’t be for quite a while. Over the weekend I took my family up to Bathtub Beach for a nice family day and for the most part was pleasantly surprised. The thing that drew people to the beach in the first place, Bathtub Reef is still doing a great job keeping the beach nice and calm even at high tide. My daughter is usually scared of the waves at Stuart beach (she’s only 16 months old!) but at Bathtub she was laughing and giggling in the water.
The difference is in the waves, which at Bathtub is little more than a ripple on the water. If you are a surfer, this is not the place for you. But if you have a family, particularly with small children or enjoy snorkeling there isn’t a better beach anywhere in driving distance!
The beach itself is narrow with the erosion and the parking is very limited for now but it actually made for a nice balance. The limited parking helped offset the limited beach area and kept the beach from getting overcrowded. Though it may take you some time to find a parking spot on the weekends. The water was very calm and clear and you could clearly see anything under the water as far as obstructions. Just in case, there was always a lifeguard close at hand with adequate equipment to get to any swimmer in distress quickly. No, no one was in distress on my trip but I did see guards patrolling on four wheelers and kayaks.
The water is a little deeper than I remember but it was high tide and the deepest part of the beach was almost midpoint between the shore and the reef itself, with either end of the spectrum being only four or five feet deep. Toward the middle it probably got to around six feet.
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