Siesta Key is world renowned for its powdery white sand beaches. Stretching from Point of Rocks, just below mid-key to the Siesta Village area, is Crescent Beach. The Siesta Beach County Park is located on this stretch of sand which was judged the "world's finest and whitest" in the 1987 World Sand Challenge. Facilities include an 800-space parking lot, picnic shelters, rest rooms, concession stands, lifeguards, volleyball courts, tennis courts, a softball field, playground and fitness trail. Along Midnight Pass Road to the south and along Beach Road to the north of Siesta Public Beach are several public beach accesses. These have limited parking and no lifeguards are on duty.

At the south end of the Key is Turtle Beach, The beach sand here is somewhat less powdery than Siesta Beach, but has a greater abundance of sea shells. It is also much less crowded. This is also a county park facility and has restrooms, picnic shelters, horseshoe pits, volleyball net and a boat ramp, but no life guards. South of Turtle Beach is Palmer Point Beach, a remote stretch of sand and sea oats which stretches across what was once Midnight Pass to Casey Key.

Hardly a visitor to Siesta Key has failed to make some comment about the beautiful, white sugar fine sand on our beaches. The sand from Siesta Key is 99% PURE QUARTZ grains-the grains being somewhat angular in shape. The soft, floury texture of the sand is due to its very fine grain size. It contains no fragments of coral and no shell. It does contain a small scattering of black grains, which are tentatively identified as Ferro-magnesium, probably horn-blenda and augite.

The fineness of the sand which give it its powdery softness, is emphasized by the fact that the quartz is a very hard substance, graded at 7 in the hardness scale of 10 - the diamond being rated 10 in that scale. Minerals of hardness cannot be scratched with the point of a steel knife.

Not only is our sand the finest and whitest, it is also cool to the touch. No more scampering across hot, burning sand to the blanket oasis. Our beach remains a favorite of families as restful, tropical Siesta Key has become a "special place" for vacationers from all parts of the world.