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Kayak trail to a hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve

Kayak trails are more fun when there’s a destination. And few destinations are as intriguing as a hidden beach on a wild island.

That’s why I consider the St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park such a great discovery.

There’s a scenic kayak trail through mangroves teeming with fish and birds. The kayak trail is on the undeveloped, wild northern end of Jupiter Island. And from the kayak trail, you can find a narrow path to a spectacular beach where we walked for miles on a sunny Saturday and saw only two other people.

This is my definition of a hidden paradise.

Kayak trail through mangroves at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State
Kayak trail weaves through mangroves at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park is located about a half hour north of West Palm Beach. It’s the northern tip of a barrier island, ending where the St. Lucie River enters the ocean. As one of the few undeveloped barrier islands on Florida’s east coast, it’s a rare and special place.

There are no roads on this part of the island and no bridges to reach it. The park adjoins the remote Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, so it is well-insulated from people and development. Access is only by boat.

On the island, there are restrooms, picnic shelters and a 3,300-foot boardwalk connecting the dock and beach.   A free tram whisks visitors from Intracoastal to ocean from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends and  holidays. We walked; the better to admire the thick coastal hammock of live oak, cabbage palms and ferns.

Kayak trail at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park

Kayak trail under bridge at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State
Kayak trail winds under boardwalk’s bridge at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

You need to carefully plan this kayak outing for high tide, because the trail is impassable at low tide. The best time to leave is two hours before high tide, because that gives you four hours to paddle and explore.

A sandy beach-like launch site is located directly across the park in a small Martin County park at the end of Cove Road. (Exit I-95 at SR 76 and take a right on Cove Road in about two blocks. Go to the end of the road.)  This attractive little park is a magnet for kayakers – four people were launching at the same time we were.

From the launch site, you face the worst part of this kayak trail: Crossing the choppy Intracoastal, about a third of a mile wide here, with its cruising yachts and zipping personal watercraft. This open water can get windy too; we paddled mightily against the wind at one point to make progress. But even on a sunny March Saturday, boat traffic was light and we considered the island worth the challenging crossing.

Kayak trail map for St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park
Kayak trail map to St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park: Print this and bring it along.

Print out the accompanying map and bring it with you. (There are maps in the park’s office on the island, but it is frequently unmanned and you probably don’t want to go to the park’s office first anyway. ) We didn’t have this map and missed some key opportunities as a result.

You can make the trail into a loop by using the narrow channel through the mangroves at Marker #13 on the southern end of the island.  (This channel is said to be tricky to find; look for moving water along the shore.)

We started at the other end: heading north and turning right into the first opening.

Boardwalk at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park leads to hidden beach
Wide boardwalk connects the Intracoastal with the hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

The trail itself is shallow with a sandy bottom where you can often peer in to see schools of fish or a fleeing ray. You paddle through some very narrow, twisty sections and come to some broader lagoons.

We loved the abundant wildlife: We startled ibises and watched three ospreys fishing in the same area. Eventually, we were close enough to the beach to hear waves crashing through the mangrove thicket.

There are no trail signs, but if you start at the north end of the trail and head south, you always take the right channel to stay on the trail. The trail is entirely lined with mangroves. There is no place where you can step out onto land. While you do paddle under the boardwalk, you cannot reach it from the water because the mangroves are impenetrable.

Kayak trail launch site at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park
Kayak trail launch site is across the Intracoastal from St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

If you paddle to the very last lagoon at the trail’s southern end, there is a narrow path between the kayak trail and beach. We would have loved to have stopped here, but we didn’t know it existed. (We didn’t have the map at this point.) The map I later saw at the ranger’s office shows this trail and when I got back to my computer, I could see it via satellite view on Google maps. So my advice: Plan to make this your stop to stretch your legs and have a picnic. The path will take you to the beach at a point where you are likely to have it almost to yourself.

Another alternative route for kayaking is to explore the lagoon off the St. Lucie Inlet called the Hole in the Wall.  As you enter the kayak trail on it’s northern end, you’ll see a waterway fork off to the left to the inlet. We didn’t get there, but the Google satellite map shows the Hole in the Wall is a shallow lagoon with small mangrove islands. The land facing the inlet at this point looks sandy and appealing.

The hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park

Driftwood at hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park in Florida
Driftwood at the remote beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

After paddling the kayak trail, we tied up at the main dock and walked the boardwalk to the beach.  And what a beach it is: Pristine, wide, quiet and virtually deserted. If you’ve always wanted a beach all to yourself, this is it.

The state park’s beach is 2.7 miles long, but the southern boundary is with Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and thus the beach actually continues uninterrupted for more than five miles.

During the summer , the island is an important nesting area for loggerhead, leatherback and green turtles.

Here’s some advice based on experience: Observe well where you entered the beach. There are no signs and the wild shoreline scenery doesn’t provide many clues. It’s easy to walk past your return path – we did, and for a while we wondered if we’d be sleeping on the island. We did find our return route, but we walked more of this beach than we had originally planned !

Hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park in Florida
The hidden beach at St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park. You can only reach it by boat. It is vast and pristine. (Photo: Bonnie Gross)

Near the beach is a large covered picnic pavilion and restrooms.

Scuba divers should note that an extensive Anastasia rock reef is located just offshore of the park extending 4.7 miles along the coast and up to one mile offshore. Depths range from 5 feet to 35 feet. This reef is the northernmost limit for the ranges of several species of corals found in South Florida. (The reef is too far for snorkelers from the beach to reach it.)

Planning your outing to St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park

St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park website
Across from the east end of Cove Road on Jupiter Island
Stuart
(772) 219-1880

Honor-box entrance fee: $2 per kayak

Hours: 8 a.m. to sunset, 365 days a year.

More paddling in the Stuart area:

Things to do in the nearby Jupiter area:

More great places to kayak


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Danita

Thursday 23rd of June 2022

Do you have to go at high tide to go to the hole in the wall?

Bonnie Gross

Thursday 23rd of June 2022

We didn't explore that section, as the article explains, but the whole kayak trail is very shallow and you might run aground at spots when the tide is low. -- Bonnie

Ryan

Saturday 21st of August 2021

I use a bike chain lock and secure it to a tree. Bring your paddle to the beach with you. You can also carry it across to the beach for a ocean kayak paddle. It is about 100 yards to the beach.

Bonnie Gross

Saturday 21st of August 2021

Thanks Ryan. Good advice!

Amanda

Tuesday 17th of August 2021

What do you do with your kayak while walking on the beach?

Bonnie Gross

Wednesday 18th of August 2021

No choice but to leave it. I suppose there is a risk, but there weren't many/any people around.

Dario

Thursday 12th of November 2020

Did you see any alligators?

Ryan M Commerford

Friday 13th of November 2020

No Gators. Just Sharks, Sting Rays, Flounder, sunshine, and a day full of good memories.

Ryan M Commerford

Saturday 5th of September 2020

Your right, Best place in Fla to Kayak. I have been doing this route since the 70's. Still just as pristine as it was then. A true Florida Gem. And the Beach at the end......... Seaglass galore in Feb.

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