Sebastian Inlet State Park sits on a barrier island where the Indian River Lagoon meets the Atlantic Ocean — a dynamic point where saltwater and lagoon waters converge, creating rich habitats and excellent recreational opportunities. The area is historically significant as it is the site near where the Spanish Treasure Fleet, a total of eleven ships returning to Spain from Cuba, were wrecked in 1715 during a hurricane.

This was our first visit to this state park in Melbourne, FL. Located on the barrier island accessible via route A1A (Jimmy Buffet Memorial Highway) about halfway between Melbourne Beach to the north and Vero Beach to the south, the park offers a campground, great fishing, hiking, cycling, scuba, surfing, open ocean beaches, protected inlet beaches and a boat ramp on the Indian River Lagoon.When we tried to check in a bit earlier than the 3:00 pm check in time, we were instructed to park in their lot and return later. Oh well, at least it was a pleasant spot to wait.

The campground is older with sixty electric (some sites have 50A power but many are only 30A) and water sites but no sewer. The sites along the waterfront are on the southern inlet bank and are generally small, short and close together. Our 45′ big rig would not fit on most of those, but there are a few other non-waterfront sites that are suitable, especially the 5 pull thru sites which are very long, as well as some back-ins along the eastern side of the loop. As Florida senior residents we get a 50% discount so the rate here was only $14/night.

We weren’t able to book a pull thru and ended up on back-in site #39 which was mostly private, plenty long, and fairly easy to back in to.

However, this is the most unlevel site we have experienced in 15 years of RVing. There was a 17″ differential from front to back and it was not possible to fully level the coach with just the built in hydraulics which are limited to about 12″. And even though we had an upgraded 50A hookup, we had issues with low AC voltage during peak hours, causing our power protection systems to shut the AC power down. The rangers explained the electrical service was at capacity and in need of an upgrade.

The park is fairly isolated and there are very minimal services on the island so crossing over to the mainland is required for groceries, etc. The nearest causeway to the north is about a 30 minute drive into Melbourne, and to the south it’s about 15 minutes to the Webasso causeway into Vero Beach.

Nevertheless, this is a great spot with lots of wildlife and things to do. Birds of all sorts, plus turtles, lizards, dolphins and numerous other critters, unfortunately including an active population of no-see-ums, making sitting outside very unpleasant!

There is great fishing off the inlet jetties, and the north side of the inlet has a protected shallow water beach area. From a boaters perspective, Sebastian Inlet is known as a fair-weather, local knowledge only inlet that can be treacherous due to strong, shifting currents, standing waves, and shallow, changing bottoms, especially with outgoing tides and strong easterly winds. The Coast Guard doesn’t even consider it fully navigable, and we did not observe any navigation markers at the inlet entrance. We did however see lots of breaking waves and shallow areas. The floating channel markers inside the inlet were laying on their sides during flood and ebb tides. On most days, we did not observe any boats attempting to transit the inlet, however, on one notably calm day, we did see a handful of boats go through.

The many miles of beaches here are prime breeding grounds for Leatherback, Loggerhead and Green sea turtles. The turtles mostly hatch in the spring and great effort is put into protecting the egg laying and subsequent hatching process, including elimination of lights at night which will confuse their instinctive rush towards the water.

Another fascinating and educational place to visit is the Barrier Island Center At Doc Earhardt Sanctuary which is part of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge just a few minutes from the campground and on the Atlantic side of the island. Very informative, interactive displays, many of which were focused on sea turtles and the efforts to protect them make this a must see stop for any visitor to the area. And best news yet – it is free! Highly recommended!

We learned that “the 34-acre sanctuary was renamed to the Doc Ehrhart Sanctuary in April 2025. For over 50 years, Dr. LLewellyn “Doc” Ehrhart and his team collected sea turtle nesting data that was instrumental in the designation of the critical nesting beaches at the Archie Carr Refuge. This data also helped recover the green sea turtle populations. The sanctuary, which includes a 1-mile trail that stretches from dune to lagoon, offers several spectacular views of the ocean and Indian River Lagoon. The trail winds through multiple different habitats including maritime hammock, coastal strand and tidal swamps to name a few.”

From the back observation deck, we noticed lots of heavy equipment on the beach.Several staff members were seated at a picnic table having lunch and during a conversation with them, we learned that there is a massive effort to rejuvenate the eroded beach areas on the ocean shore. What we found quite fascinating was that they don’t just use any sand to rejuvenate the beach but to keep the view of the beach landscape consistent, they will only truck in sand that matches the color and texture of the existing beach sand. We also noticed several areas that had stakes in the ground and construction type tape marking a particular area which we learned were sites where turtle eggs still hadn’t hatched yet. During June and July, they offer guided sea turtle walks. They also have numerous volunteer opportunities.

On a beautiful day before our departure, we enjoyed a delicious waterfront lunch at the Riverside Cafe in Vero Beach. Fried flounder topped with cheese and mango cole slaw served on a toasted bun with fries ($18.99). Yum!

After lunch, we took a walk under the bridge.

From there, we drove into the town of Vero Beach where we took a walk on the boardwalk along the beach.

And we couldn’t leave the area without seeing a bit of Old Florida driving along the historic Jungle Trail, a well maintained 7.5 to 8 mile dirt road paralleling the Indian River Lagoon.

The trail dates back to the 1920s, when it was built as a practical route serving citrus growers, who transported fruit along the island. The produce was shipped via docks on the lagoon and then north by rail. It’s sometimes described as the “original A1A,” reflecting how important it once was. Because of its role in Florida’s development, the trail was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

During our drive, a wild cat (lynx, bobcat?) jumped onto the trail in front of us! Very cool but  unfortunately he was too fast and too far away to get a decent photo.

We didn’t do it this year but back in 2012 we hiked the Pelican Island National Wildlife Preserve Centennial Trail (see our post Vero Beach Jungle Trail).

Craving a decent breakfast and with only a few days left before our departure, we headed to the Beachside Cafe in Indiatlantic. Breakfast was okay except that they overcooked Rob’s poached eggs on his hash.

After breakfast, we drove to Crane Creek Promenade and walked along the waterfront.

On December 4th, it was time to move on to our next destination. Stay tuned to learn about our next destination!