Journal #13
October 15-18, 2018
Notable to those of us originally from the Pacific coast of this nation is that when in Florida they refer to the west coast they do not mean California. They have their own west coast.
We, however are cruising down the east coast of Florida now; having a beer at Cocoa Beach, staying at Sebastian Inlet State Park, exploring McLarty Treasure Museum, climbing Jupiter Lighthouse, staying at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, exploring the treasure coast, and walking out on Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Cocoa Beach
Cocoa Beach is so much non-touristy (of course, we are here between the summer people and the snowbirds) The charms of the sands and the warm water are a pleasure to experience. The pier offered good cold beer and the beach was not crowded, probably only locals. Walking the beach, we came upon a loggerhead turtle, although the wildlife people were concerned about her health.
Sebastian Inlet State Park
We are in the process of venturing out into the ocean as we travel along the coastal shores, dipping our feet in the water as we cruise down the coast; however, we came to an obstacle at Sebastian Inlet State Park. Beautiful and cooler here, the beaches were closed due to the Red Tide, an algal bloom that caused breathing problems, teary eyes and coughing. At least we had electricity to run the air conditioner at night. We only stayed one night and a visited the fascinating Fish Museum and the McLarty Treasure Museum.Disaster at Sea – McLarty Treasure Museum
Every summer in the 1700s Spanish Galleons carrying a year’s worth of gold, silver and jewels collected from the New World met in Cuba. Taking advantage of the Gulf Stream that moved north along the east coast of Florida, they began their trip back to Europe. The forts and warships we have visited help protect them. However, they had no defense against hurricanes. In 1715, an early season hurricane wiped out an entire fleet of Spanish Galleons in the shoals just off the coast – 11 wooden sailing vessels. Of the 2500 people aboard, about 1500 survived and came ashore to form a survivors’ village and later a salvage operation. The McLarty family donated this stretch of coast where the survivors’ village was located after the tragedy.
The entire coast of eastern Florida was treacherous as this map shows with a red X where there were sunken ships.
Thus, the Treasure Coast designation to this day ... treasures are discovered still along these shores, especially after intense storms.
Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and Museum
A lovely inlet spot, once a naval station, endowed with a lovely brick pathway to the lighthouse brings us to the most amazing tree. What we thought was a banyan is actually a Ficus Artimus and is nicknamed the walking tree. As it sends out enormous branches, they in turn drop air roots downward that eventually send those roots into the ground for a natural support system. Remarkable!
The lighthouse was great fun to climb with only 105 steps and the views of the ocean and the rivers and inlet were stunning.
Jonathan Dickinson State Park.
Jonathan Dickinson is a lovely campground … kudos to Florida for providing such amazing campgrounds all along the coastline … inexpensive, well maintained with fully tiled bathhouses. There are two sections in this campground, the Loxahatchee River sites and the Pine Grove sites. The Pine Grove sites, newly rebuilt after Hurricane Irma which wiped out all the pines; we were forewarned of the open nature of the campground with no privacy or protection from the sun.
Four miles inland from the coast is the River campsite ... barely damaged and still lovely with palms and mangroves and sea grape bushes. We camped there and found wonderful facilities and a nice education center. In addition, an observation tower (Hobe Mountain Tower) boasted of the tallest hill in this part of Florida at 86 feet … great views!
I know, those of you in Colorado will chuckle at this mountain.
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.
Driving into another lovely canopy road, we ventured out onto one of the trails and spied many birds (although migratory season is not until next month).Established as the first national wildlife refuge in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt to save the last east coast brown pelican rookery and provide a safe haven for them and other water birds that were being killed for their feathers and eggs. Large feather hats were the fashion at the time.
This picture is of an Osprey we saw … it was quite clear with our binoculars … It is on a branch that bridges between the two palms in the middle of the photo ... but not too sharp a photograph. however, the other picture is of a carving of this bird that we found at the education center. We also spied different kinds of egrets, herons and wood storks. The flora featured a full forest of mangroves and sea grapes and palms and delicate white flowers.
This picture shows a particularly close relationship between a palm and a mangrove.
Did I mention it was hot here?
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