Visitor information
Before you arrive
The practical page: getting here, getting around, the weather by month, beach safety, the sea turtle season, the tides and the questions we hear most. Print it from your browser.
Parking at the county beaches is free and gone by 10 am on winter weekends. Arrive early, or come at four when the morning crowd leaves.
Sea turtles nest on every beach here from March to October. Lights off the sand after dark, no digging, give marked nests room, and take your chairs in at night.
Lifeguards fly flags: green for calm water, yellow for caution, red for strong currents and purple for stinging marine life. Swim near a stand when you can.
Getting here
By air: Palm Beach International is forty-five minutes south of Stuart on I-95 and has the most flights. Orlando is two hours on the Turnpike and Fort Lauderdale an hour and a half; both are worth it for a cheaper fare. Every airport has the usual car hire, and you will want a car.
By road: I-95 runs the length of the coast with exits for Jupiter, Hobe Sound, Stuart and Jensen Beach; US 1 is the slower road through the towns, and A1A is the slowest and prettiest, along the ocean on the islands. The Florida Turnpike exit at Palm City is the quickest way in from Orlando and the west.
By rail: there is no passenger stop on this stretch of coast yet. West Palm Beach has Brightline from Miami and Orlando and Tri-Rail from the south, with car hire at the station.
Getting around
Downtown Stuart and the village of Jensen Beach are walkable; everything else needs a car. The two bridges to Hutchinson Island and the Bridge Road drawbridge at Hobe Sound are the only places traffic stalls, and they stall on winter weekend mornings and holiday afternoons. Bicycles are the right way to move along the island’s A1A and along Indian River Drive; the inns lend them.
Boats launch free from the county ramps at the Jensen Beach causeway and Sandsprit Park, and the Riverwalk docks in Stuart take visitors for a few hours at no charge.
The weather by month
Winter is dry, bright and in the seventies, with a cold front every week or two that drops the temperature for a day and stacks the fish offshore. Summer is hot, humid and wet in the afternoons, with a storm most days at three that is gone by four, and the water is bath-warm. The shoulders, April to May and October to November, are the locals’ favourite months.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High (°F) | 75 | 76 | 79 | 82 | 86 | 89 | 90 | 90 | 88 | 85 | 80 | 76 |
| Low (°F) | 56 | 58 | 61 | 65 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 75 | 75 | 71 | 64 | 59 |
| Water (°F) | 72 | 71 | 73 | 76 | 80 | 83 | 85 | 85 | 84 | 81 | 77 | 74 |
| Rain days | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| Crowds | Full | Full | Full | Busy | Quiet | Quiet | Quiet | Quiet | Quiet | Quiet | Busy | Full |
Beach safety
Rip currents are the real danger on these beaches, especially for a day or two after a front and near the inlets and the piers. If you are pulled out, swim parallel to the shore until you are free of the current, then in. Swim near a lifeguard stand, watch the flags, and keep children within reach, not within sight.
Portuguese man o’ war wash up after an east wind, most often in winter; the purple flag means they are about. Sunburn is the other certainty: the sun is strong all year, there is no natural shade on the sand, and the hour either side of noon is the one to spend under a roof.
Sea turtle season
From March to October loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks nest on every beach in this guide, and this stretch of coast is one of the densest nesting grounds in the world. The county marks nests with stakes and tape. The rules are simple: no lights on the sand after dark, including phones; no digging and no holes left behind; no furniture, tents or boats left on the beach overnight; and nothing within the taped nests. Guided turtle walks run in June and July through the Coastal Center and the Hobe Sound refuge and book out weeks ahead.
Tides
The station that matters is the St. Lucie Inlet entrance; the river stations lag it by an hour or more, and the ocean beaches to the north run a few minutes ahead. Bathtub Reef is a low-tide beach: arrive an hour before and leave an hour after. Blowing Rocks blows at high tide with an onshore wind and shows its pools at low tide. The inlet crossing by kayak is for slack water, and the causeway catwalks fish best on the moving tide. The tables come from the national tide service and change daily; look them up the night before.
Money and tipping
Cards work almost everywhere; cash is handy at the markets, the honor boxes at the state parks and the bait shop. Charter mates are tipped fifteen to twenty per cent of the fare, guides and cruise crews ten to twenty, and restaurants the usual twenty. The fictional businesses in this guide tip nobody; the real ones would appreciate it.
The questions we hear most
Yes, unless you stay downtown in Stuart and never leave it. The beaches, the parks and the museums are all a drive, and there is no useful bus.
Jensen Beach for the gentle slope and the short boardwalk, Bathtub Reef at low tide for the pool, and the causeway’s lagoon beach for no surf at all.
November to March, with the best days in the two or three after a cold front. The charters run all year for the river and the inlet.
On the trails and in the campground, yes, on a lead. On the county beaches, no; the dog beach is in Jupiter, along A1A north of Carlin Park.
The ocean is in the low seventies from December to February, which is cool to get into and fine once you are in. The lagoon is a little warmer and the pool at the condos is not heated.
The season runs June to November and the worst recent storms came in September and October. Hotels and the state parks refund for named storms; check the policy when you book, watch the forecast in those months, and follow the county’s orders if one comes.