Stuart, Jensen Beach, Hutchinson Island, Palm City, Hobe Sound and Jupiter
Where the Gulf Stream comes closest to shore
An independent visitor guide to Florida's Treasure Coast, written by people who live here: the beaches and inlets, where to fish, eat and sleep, and what is on this season.
22 miles
Of Atlantic beaches
Nov to Mar
Sailfish season
Mar to Oct
Sea turtle nesting
45 minutes
From Palm Beach airport
This season
Winter is sailfish season
From November to March the Gulf Stream swings in to within a few miles of the St. Lucie Inlet and the sailfish follow the bait along its edge. Charters leave Stuart and Jensen Beach most mornings; the first cold fronts bring the best days, and the roughest.
Not fishing? December brings the lighted boat parade, January the lantern tours at the House of Refuge, and the river is calm enough for a sunrise paddle most weeks.
Explore
Six places, one coast
Region
Start here
Stuart
The river town and the inlet
Region
Jensen Beach
An old Florida beach village
Region
Hutchinson Island
A barrier island of beaches and refuges
Region
Palm City
Quiet, riverside and inland
Region
Hobe Sound
Dunes, the refuge and Blowing Rocks
Region
Jupiter
The lighthouse and the clearest inlet
What is on
The season, November to March
14
4
Friday 4 December 2026, 5 to 9 pm
Riverwalk night market
Stuart Riverwalk, the first Friday of each month
5
15
6
13
Saturday 13 to Sunday 14 March 2027
Savannas birding weekend
Savannas Preserve State Park, Jensen Beach
Things to do
Beaches, trails, boats and a few good tables
Beach
Bathtub Reef Beach
Hutchinson Island
Best at low tide
A worm-rock reef a few yards offshore makes a shallow, calm pool at low tide: snorkel over the reef, or wade with small children.
Park
Jonathan Dickinson State Park
Hobe Sound
8 am to sunset
Eleven thousand acres of pine scrub and the Loxahatchee River, with a boat tour upriver and a tower on the highest dune in South Florida.
Museum
House of Refuge
Hutchinson Island
10 am to 4 pm
The last of the ten houses built in 1876 to shelter shipwrecked sailors, on the rocks at Gilbert's Bar. Small, strange and worth an hour.
Charter
Reef and River Charters
Stuart
Half and full days
Sailfish on the edge from November, snook and tarpon in the river the rest of the year, on a 34-foot center console for up to four.
Paddle
Sandbar Paddle Company
Jensen Beach
2 hours
Kayaks and boards from the causeway, with guided sunrise trips to the sandbars before the wind comes up.
Eat
The Boathouse Kitchen
Stuart
Lunch and dinner
Grouper sandwiches and smoked fish dip on a dock over the river; come by boat, or walk from the Riverwalk.
-
Featured
The first cold front of the season
Read the story: The first cold front of the seasonWhat happens offshore when the first real front comes through in November, and why every captain on the coast is up before four.
Stay
Sleep near the water
Inn
The Inlet Inn
Stuart
Walk to the Riverwalk
Fourteen rooms in a 1920s house two blocks from the water, with bicycles to borrow and breakfast on the porch.
Cottages
Sandpiper Cottages
Jensen Beach
Steps from the beach
Six cottages behind the dune at Jensen Beach, each with a kitchen, a screened porch and an outdoor shower.
Campground
Jonathan Dickinson campground
Hobe Sound
Water and electric sites
Two camping areas inside the state park, with hook-ups, hot showers and the Loxahatchee River a short walk away. Book through the state parks system.
The coast, once a month
Tides, what is biting, what is on and one place worth the drive. One email a month, easy to leave, nothing to buy.
We send the letter by hand from our own address and keep nothing but the address you write from. Reply to any issue to come off the list.
Visitor information
Everything practical, on one page
The page we would hand you at the visitor desk: how to get here, what the weather does each month, the beach rules and the sea turtle season, and the answers to the questions we hear most. Print it from your browser before you leave.
- Getting here by air, road and rail
- Weather and water temperature by month
- Beach rules, parking and the lifeguard season
- Sea turtle nesting, March to October
- Tides, and the inlet on a rough day
- The questions we hear most