The Island Links course does not sit in a vacuum. It occupies about forty acres inside Aquarina, a gated barrier-island community in Melbourne Beach that is squeezed onto one of the narrowest, most ecologically remarkable strips of land in Florida — the Atlantic Ocean on the east, the Indian River Lagoon on the west. Understanding that setting makes a round here far more meaningful.
A Course Inside an Estuary
The Indian River Lagoon is not a river at all but a 156-mile estuary system, and it is one of the most biodiverse in North America — home to more than 4,000 species of plants and animals. When the original course described "water features extensively," that water is part of this living system. Herons, egrets, ospreys, wood storks and the occasional manatee in the adjacent lagoon are part of the everyday scenery. Play with your head up; the wildlife is half the reward.
Sea Turtle Country
The beaches immediately east of Aquarina form part of the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge, one of the most important sea-turtle nesting sites in the Western Hemisphere. Each summer, loggerhead, green and leatherback turtles come ashore here by the thousands. Organizations like the Sea Turtle Conservancy work up and down this coast to protect them, and visitors are asked to keep beaches dark and undisturbed during nesting season. It is a powerful thing to play a morning round and know the dunes a few hundred yards away are a global stronghold for an ancient species.
Barrier-Island Living
Aquarina itself is a small residential community built around the golf, tennis and beach lifestyle, with direct ocean access and a dock on the lagoon side. The scale is intimate — this is not a mega-resort but a quiet enclave where the golf course is woven into the neighborhood. That is precisely why the course plays the way it does: compact, walkable, and shaped by the land rather than imposed on it.
Respecting the Place
Playing and visiting here comes with a light responsibility. Stay on paths, give wildlife room, pack out what you bring in, and follow local guidance during turtle-nesting season. The barrier island is resilient but not indestructible, and the same qualities that make it a beautiful place to golf — the water, the dunes, the quiet — are the ones worth protecting. If you are building a longer visit around all of this, our guide to planning a Space Coast golf trip ties the golf together with the refuges, beaches and space history nearby.
Independent area information; not affiliated with the Aquarina community, its golf course or club.