Hobe Sound Nature Ctr and River Bch

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Stuart, FL
Hobe Sound Nature Ctr and River Bch
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At Hobe Sound Nature Center in Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, there are steps through a jungle leading down to the most beautiful white sand beach! Most days you will share the beach with only one or two other people, and sometimes have it all to yourself! It feels like you are marooned on a tropical island! The beach curves so cutely as its white sand leads to a lone palm tree! There is a wooden dock. Around the bend an even more private beach awaits. Here small mangrove trees delight your kids. At the end there is a tiny mangrove forest by the water where kids become inspired to play imaginative games. Parents can relax here in the shade. This is the life!

Every so often a motor boat zooms by, a happy kayaker waves at you, or a bird dive bombs into the water creating a big PLONK! The sand is so fine it is almost fluffy like snow flakes as you rake it around with your fingers. Your kids can wade in the shallow, still, brownish water and make mud balls with the goopy sand by the shore. This leads to endless fun bringing mud balls up and arranging them on the white sand under the trees. The water varies in color; lighter aquamarine spots streak through the slate-blue water. You can see the mansions of Jupiter Island across the water- not a bad life those guys have!
Bring sunscreen because the light reflecting off the white sand gives you a sort of skier's sunburn.
At the Hobe Sound Nature Center, there is a room with some cool exhibits. A small stripey skunk moves around his tank. There is a reef tank with tropical fish, and an estuary tank with grasses, sea horse, long thin fish, and shrimp. Snakes are in other tanks. An exhibit explains sea turtles and how they bury their eggs in the sand. Common shells found around the treasure coast are displayed and named. There are things to touch like a shark jaw, starfish, and sand dollar. Drawers open up showing things like furs of different animals, with a photo of the animal underneath. Bobcats have such incredibly soft fur! A baby alligator floats so oddly, perfectly still in his tank, and a baby crocodile hangs out in his. A frog looks seriously from his perch on a rock.
In summer you can go on guided turtle walks at night here. Call ahead, in April, to reserve a spot.
Besides, the short trail down to the beach, there is also a scrub nature trail here (best on a rare very cold winter when there are no mosquitoes) that is a loop and a lagoon that shoots off from it and leads to a little spot on the intracoastal. These are behind the nature center and are also accessed by a trail at the beach. This hike is fantastic because it has vistas that you don't usually get to enjoy in Florida, from up high!
Another wonderful wild spot to check out near here is Jonathon Dickinson State Park.
Afterward, have a drink under a grass shack roof right on the intracoastal waterway at Tiki 52 (see address below) or sit on an adirondack chair surrounded by technicolor water at Blue Pointe Bar and Grill, which has live music at all times and is pure paradise! If you come an hour before high tide the water color will amaze you! Don't miss this! Check out Sea Treasures, a really nice gift shop, a minute south, while you're there.
It is also lovely to drive under the banyan trees to Hobe Sound Beach. It is an eight minute drive north of the nature center. Have a coffee in Hobe Sound town after.

Continue to directions...

The white white sand at the beginning of the trail down to the beach.

The trail through jungle down to the shore.

The nature center.

Make paw prints at the nature center.

Display on baby sea turtles.

See the skunk running around in his clear plastic ball!

The skunk in his cage.

Reef exhibit.

Mangrove exhibit.

Bones and things you can pick up and touch at the nature center.

The lovely sight when you reach the river.

The thick jungly hammock.

Large driftwood on the river beach.

I love these baby mangrove trees!

Fishing from a kayak.

There are plenty of wild things for kids to play with here.

The river beach.

Mangrove trees provide a shady, enclosed place for kids to play imagination games.

The vegetation is gorgeous.

Peaceful scene.

People enjoying the beach.

A shady spot to sit.

The sand is incredibly lightweight and fluffy like snow!

The path down to the beach.

Cute view above the beach. It's rare you get to be high up over the water in flat Florida!

The white sand beach.

Dock on the beach.

Little shrub, white sand, and river.

Shade at the beach entrance.

Bench with a view.

Striped mud turtle.

A snake!

Southern Toad.

Eastern Tiger Salamander.

A volunteer shows us a snake!

Baby alligator, held by a volunteer.

Feel the furs in the drawer.

A Florida Pine Snake comes out of hiding.

Eastern Slender Glass Lizard really does look like slender glass!

Exhibit with a button that kids can press.

Seahorse.

A boy plays at a sand station.

Shells to check out.

Bench at the top of the stairs to the beach.

The sugar white sand on the river beach.

This little beach looks like paradise!

The sugar white sand and clear water at the river beach.

Directions

Hobe Sound Nature Center is located at 13640 S.E. Federal Highway (U.S. 1), Hobe Sound, Florida 33455, call (772) 546-2067.
The driveway to the nature center is on Highway 1, just north (and on the other side of the road) of Jonathon Dickinson State Park. There is a large brown sign: "Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge." Pull in and there is plenty of parking.
Admission is free!
Nature Center is open Mon-Sat 9-3.
Beach is open daily from sunrise to sunset.
There are restrooms at the top of the steps down to the beach and inside the nature center.
Tiki 52 is situated at Blowing Rocks Marina, at 18487 Highway 1 (Southeast Federal Highway), Jupiter, FL 33469, call (561) 746-3312. It is 8 minutes south of the nature center on Highway 1 just north of the huge pale yellow boat storage building.
Blue Pointe Bar and Grill, 18701 SE Federal Hwy, Tequesta, FL 33469. You park in the parking lot next to the huge pale yellow boat storage building, and they take you in a golf cart to the bar, or you can just walk from the parking. Open 11-10 every day!

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Last Updated: Mon, 10 Apr 2023 14:13:41 GMT

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