Sandbar packing guide
What to Bring on a Key West Sandbar Charter
Updated
Sandbar packing has one governing principle: you're provisioning a stationary day in full sun with no shore services. The boat is your infrastructure — everything else you either bring, confirm the captain provides, or do without.
One captain-text before packing saves half this list: 'What's provided, what's the cooler policy, any glass or alcohol rules?' Then fill the gaps below.
The short answer
Sun kit (reef-safe mineral sunscreen, rash guards, hats, water shoes), a cooler with more water than seems reasonable plus real food, towels and dry clothes in a dry bag, and floats if the boat doesn't carry them. Confirm provided gear before duplicating it, and leave glass, valuables and anything unfloatable at the hotel.
Sun kit — the non-negotiables
- Reef-safe mineral sunscreen, applied before boarding and reapplied after water time
- Rash guards or swim shirts for everyone staying in the water long (that's everyone)
- Brimmed hats with chin straps or clips — wind owns the unsecured
- Sunglasses, polarized if you have them; the glare comes from above and below
- Water shoes — shell fragments and seagrass are part of a real sandbar
- Lip balm with SPF; the forgotten burn everyone gets once
Cooler and provisions
- Water: a bottle per person per hour is the honest budget in summer
- Electrolyte options for kids who won't drink plain water all day
- Real food, not just chips — salt water manufactures appetites
- Cans and plastic only; glass is banned on most boats and awful on sandbars
- Ice, plus a small separate bag for drinks people grab constantly
- Trash bags — everything you float in with floats back out with you
Comfort and play
- Floats and mats if the boat doesn't provide (confirm — many do)
- A mask and snorkel for the curious; seagrass edges hold rays and starfish
- Towels plus a full change of dry clothes for the ride home
- Dry bag for phones, keys, meds; waterproof phone case with leash for photographers
- Portable speaker if your group's the music type — with awareness the water carries sound
- For kids: buckets and scoops beat electronics on a sandbar, every time
Why this is not a beach bag
A sandbar day looks like a beach day and packs like a boat day, and the gap between those two lists is where people get caught out. There is no shop, no shade you did not bring, and no walking back to the car for the thing you forgot. Everything also has to survive being wet, being sandy and being handed between people standing in waist-deep water, which rules out most of what normally lives in a beach bag and makes a dry bag and a leash the two most valuable items on this page.
How much of this you actually need scales with the block you booked. Half-day and full-day sandbar trips diverge on food, water and shade more than on anything else, so settle the length before you finish the packing.
Leave behind
- Glass anything — near-universal boat rule and a bare-feet hazard
- Jewelry; the sandbar keeps what it takes
- Valuables beyond one card and ID in the dry bag
- Spray sunscreens (deck-slick, neighbor-misting, often banned)
- The illusion that one water bottle covers a person for five hours
Frequently asked questions
Can we bring alcohol?
Many private charters allow adult drinks in cans within reason — the captain's rules and judgment govern, and shared trips vary widely. Ask explicitly before packing, drink like you're spending hours in sun (hydrate double), and let the captain's word be final without pushback. It's their license.
What do we do with wallets and phones while everyone's in the water?
Consolidate into one dry bag, stowed where the captain suggests — someone's usually near the boat, and reputable crews handle this daily. Bring the minimum: one card, one ID, the phones. The less aboard, the less to think about.
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Where this leaves you
What goes in the dry bag and what stays at the hotel.
Still open
- How long the day is, which changes the food, water and shade you need.
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