Fisher Island: The Exclusive Destination For The Wealthy

South Florida has an overflow of wealthy people and a lot of them aren’t afraid to show it, whether it means building huge extravagant homes or riding the most expensive cars they want you to know that they have the money and they know how to spend it.

Regardless of its high level of exclusivity there is one such enclave that is largely unknown, even to those living in the metro area.

It is Fisher Island, an oasis of tropical landscaping and Mediterranean architecture just 3 miles from the shores of Miami.

Fisher island, at well under a square mile, sits south of Miami Beach and east of downtown Miami, across Biscayne Bay. It houses a community of about 700 families who reside along a private shoreline and around a golf course. No roads lead there, making it accessible only by a heavily-secured ferry that is forbidden to outsiders. According to the 2010 census, it is America’s richest zip code, with median incomes just north of $1 million.

Although it has a reputation as an overly private destination, Fisher Island boasts of a high number of tourists annually because of its beautiful and serene environment, its modern architecture, its magnificent ocean view and of course The Fisher Island Club where elites residing on the island and a select few others come to make merry and build connections.

The number of amenities available on this small island are shocking. There are 8 restaurants, including several high-end steakhouses, and all of them charge residents’ expense accounts, so that no money is exchanged. There is a 9-hole golf course, a small bird-watching area, and 18 tennis courts, some with the Wimbledon surface, others with the exact clay surface found at the French Open. There is a mile of private beachfront filled with sand that was imported from Bermuda.