Indian Harbour Beach, Florida

Indian Harbour Beach is located in the region where tropical and temperate climatic zones interface. Daytime temperatures average 90 °F (32 °C) in the summer months and 72 °F (22 °C) in the winter months.[7] A study commissioned by NASA[8] lends credence to the notion that Indian Harbour Beach is located in a portion of the North American Atlantic shoreline with a uniquely reduced incidence of catastrophic hurricanes.[9]

Green sea turtle

Threatened Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles nest on the city's ocean beaches at densities of approximately one nest per 10 feet (3.0 m) of shoreline per year. Endangered green sea turtles deposit an average of tens of nests along the city's ocean beach each year.

Endangered right whales calve off the city's shoreline. Endangered West Indian manatees frequent the city's canals and the Banana River. Bald eagles forage over Samsons Island.

The 12 acres (4.9 ha) of wetland created as mitigation by a local developer on Samsons Island provide nutrient-rich, sheltered aquatic habitat serving as finfish nursery and feeding ground for a diverse assemblage of birds and mammals. The city established Samsons Island Nature Park, the only gopher tortoise relocation recipient site on the barrier island. It is occupied by 42 relocated tortoises and three which had been living on the island when development began. The city has erected five osprey nesting platforms on Samsons Island Nature Park, from which young have been fledged. Efforts are now under way to create habitat for use by gopher tortoises and scrub jays. The city is working with faculty of the Florida Institute of Technology to promote graduate student research and class projects on Samsons Island Nature Park and to assist in devising and implementing maintenance programs to preserve and enhance desirable wildlife habitats.[10]

There are plant species, both indigenous and imported.[11] Vegetated sand dunes are found along most of the beach's length and provide the major defense against storm events in the region. Native plant species found on the dunes include sea oats, Sabal palmetto, sea grape, railroad vine, dollar weed, coral bean, Spanish bayonet, wax myrtle, yaupon holly, and several grass species. More salt-tolerant and wind-tolerant species, such as sea oats and railroad vine, are found predominantly on the ocean side of the dune, while other dune vegetation species do not generally show such zonation. These plants assist in building the dune by trapping windblown sand and in stabilizing the dune with extensive lateral root systems.

There are approximately 10 acres (4.0 ha) of coquina rock outcrops frequently exposed along the low-tide line of Indian Harbour's ocean beach. The National Marine Fisheries Service has classified the rock as an Essential Fish Habitat-Habitat Area of Particular Concern. It is important to aquatic life and found only in a few locations along the Eastern seaboard.

On the Indian Harbour's ocean beach can be found fossil Atlantic ghost crabs, the remnants of a unique set of geological circumstances which preserved these creatures when they died in their burrows perhaps about 110,000 years ago.

There are significant deposits of sand, marl, coquina and possibly phosphate within the limits of Indian Harbour Beach.

• Merritt Island; Indian River Lagoon; Banana River; Melbourne
• Atlantic Ocean
• Melbourne
• Satellite Beach

In 2010, the town had the highest percentage of people with undergraduate degrees of any municipality measured in the county, 41%, compared with an average of 26% countywide.[14]

Travelocity.com named State Route A1A as the "Best Driving Route" in Florida. This runs close to the ocean. A secondary major route, paralleling it, is South Patrick Drive, which is close to the Banana River.

The Florida Department of Transportation maintains SR A1A, SR 513, and SR 518. See State Roads in Florida for explanation of numbering system.

• SR A1A – This is the main route through Indian Harbour Beach, leading from Melbourne and Satellite Beach. It has no local name. Major intersections include SR 518 and Pine Tree Drive.
• CR 3 – A small portion of CR 3 runs through Indian Harbour Beach, from Mathers Bridge to SR 513.
• SR 513 – This is a parallel state route of SR A1A, known locally as Patrick Drive. Major intersections include SR 518, CR 3/Banana River Drive, and Cassia Boulevard.
• SR 518 – Known locally as Eau Gallie Boulevard, this road leads from the Eau Gallie Causeway to SR A1A, where SR 518 ends. Major intersections include SR 513/Riverside Drive and SR A1A.