Jupiter, the lighthouse and the clearest inlet

Where the Loxahatchee meets the sea

Jupiter sits where the Loxahatchee, Florida’s first National Wild and Scenic River, reaches the Atlantic through an inlet lined with parks. The water in the inlet is the clearest on this coast because the Gulf Stream pushes closest to shore here, less than two miles out on a good day, and the incoming tide carries it right up to the sea walls. From the sidewalk at DuBois Park you can watch snook, tarpon and the occasional manatee pass below. The parks on both sides of the inlet have sea walls to sit on, and the fish show best in the hour after low tide when the water comes back in clear.

The lighthouse

The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse has stood on its hill since 1860, 108 feet of red brick that has outlasted the Civil War, a century of hurricanes and the salt. The museum at its foot tells the story of the keepers, the Seminole wars and the early settlers, and the climb is 105 steps up a spiral stair to a gallery with the whole coast beneath it. The grounds are part of a Bureau of Land Management natural area with trails through the scrub along the river.

Beaches and parks

Jupiter’s beaches are the most public on the coast: a continuous strip of town park along A1A with free lots, lifeguards and the only dog beach for fifty miles. DuBois Park on the inlet has a lagoon for small children, an 1898 pioneer house on a shell mound and picnic tables under the sea grapes. Across the inlet, Jupiter Inlet Park and Carlin Park add fishing jetties, a boat ramp and shaded pavilions. Blowing Rocks Preserve is ten minutes north on Jupiter Island. The beach at Carlin Park has the lifeguards and the showers; the dog beach north of it has neither and does not need them.

Getting here

Thirty minutes south of Stuart on I-95 or US 1, and the closest region to Palm Beach International, which is twenty-five minutes further south. A1A along the ocean is the slow and scenic route north to Hobe Sound, and the drawbridge at the inlet is the one place to expect a wait. Jupiter also has the coast’s widest choice of hotels and restaurants, which makes it the natural base for the south end of the guide.