The first rays of the sun illuminated the sand of Miami Beach when a group of early risers encountered a scene that was hard to explain.
Everything seemed normal: the breeze, the seaweed on the shore, and the movement of the waves, until suddenly something broke the routine of the beach in front of the W hotel on 22 Street.
An Instagram user, who claimed to have been at the location, provided the most detailed account of what happened. "I am the guy in the blue bathing suit with yellow stripes who appears behind the car," he specified on the account of Only in Dade.
"At around 7:10 am, a Volkswagen Tiguan entered at full speed—over 40 miles per hour—through the entrance on 22 Street in front of the W Hotel. His companion jumped out of the vehicle just before it hit the water, which is why the passenger door was already open," wrote the alleged witness.
He also recounted that he swam to the driver's window, asked if he was okay, and the driver responded that he was, although he had apparently suffered a medical episode that left him unconscious at the wheel.
In the distance, onlookers thought they saw a dark shadow in the water. As they approached, the surprise grew: a Volkswagen Tiguan was half-submerged in the open sea. The incident sparked a storm of reactions on social media.
While some expressed concern for the condition of the vehicle's occupants, the majority seized the opportunity to turn the scene into comedic material.
"I don't know much about laws, but you can't park there," wrote a user. Another joked that the driver “followed the GPS instructions to the letter,” while a third one remarked that “the driver missed the exit to the Palmetto.”
The classic Miami jokes were also in abundance: “He arrived straight from Cuba, clever,” “That’s not Ocean Drive, it’s drive into the ocean,” and the one that became the most repeated phrase: “You can’t park there!”
The black Tiguan ended up becoming an unwitting star in a spectacle that perfectly encapsulates the kind of events that seem to only happen in Miami: a blend of the inexplicable, the comedic, and the viral, where even the unusual can turn into the most talked-about anecdote of the week.
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