Pompano Beach

Overview

Pompano Beach sits on the Atlantic in Broward County, between Fort Lauderdale to the south and Deerfield Beach to the north. Its centre is the Fisher Family Pier, rebuilt and reopened in 2020, almost 900 feet long and ending in a platform shaped like a pompano fish; it is open daily from 7:00 to 22:00. The beachfront around it has been redeveloped as the Pompano Beach Fishing Village, with restaurants, shops, a hotel and a parking garage beside the city's visitors centre.

The beach runs for about three miles and is around 100 yards wide, with a gentle shelf and moderate Atlantic surf. It is quieter than Fort Lauderdale and less built up than the towers to the south, and the crowd is largely local, which gives the beachfront a residential rather than resort character.

Access is free along the whole stretch, with lifeguard towers spaced along the municipal section and open sand continuing well north and south of the pier.

Photo summary of last month

The stretch north of the pier and the stretch south of it are effectively two beaches for this purpose, and our photographs cover both.

Position relative to the Atlantic sargassum belt

Sargassum reaching southeast Florida is carried north by the Florida Current, the flow that becomes the Gulf Stream, and it arrives in scattered patches, so whether it lands depends on the wind on the day: an easterly pushes it ashore, a westerly holds it offshore.

The sargassum season

Within the season the wind matters more than the calendar, which is why clear and affected days alternate.

The wider picture is set out in our Florida sargassum season guide.

Swimming conditions and safety

This is an open Atlantic beach with a gentle shelf and generally moderate surf, comparable to Fort Lauderdale and calmer than Florida's central coast. Rip currents are the principal hazard rather than wave height, and they form most readily on windy days and around structures, which here means near the pier.

Lifeguards are on duty seven days a week, year-round, from 9:00 to 16:45, and until 18:45 during daylight saving time, and the standard warning flags are used. Purple indicates marine pests rather than sargassum, usually jellyfish or Portuguese man o' war, which arrive on the same onshore winds that carry the weed.

Keep clear of the pier itself while swimming: fishing lines run from it, and the currents around the pilings are stronger than on the open beach.

On sargassum: fresh weed floating in the water is harmless and merely unpleasant. The sulphurous smell comes from material that has decomposed on hot sand for a day or more, releasing hydrogen sulphide. If a stretch smells strongly, the sargassum is old.

Access and parking coordinates

A1A runs the length of the coast and connects Pompano to Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Deerfield without joining the interstate.

The pier

The Pompano Beach Fishing Pier is the landmark and the anchor of the redeveloped beachfront. It is open for walking as well as fishing, and it is the best vantage point on this stretch for judging the water: from partway along you can see the colour of the water on both sides and whether a weed line is running.

The plaza behind it holds restaurants and cafés facing the sand, which makes this an easier beach than most for a full day.

The live camera

This beach has a live webcam, which is the fastest way to judge conditions before setting out. Given that the two sides of the pier can differ, a camera showing the sand and waterline in real time is more useful here than any seasonal average. It appears alongside the photographs and the current score on our live map.

Check live conditions before you go

Conditions at Pompano Beach change within days, and the two sides of the pier can differ on the same morning because the structure interrupts the drift along the shore. On the live map we track it with dated photographs, a live webcam and a daily condition score, so you can see how it looks now rather than how it usually looks.