Manatee Lagoon and Jupiter Lighthouse

Since it was cool outside yesterday, we decided it would be a good time to visit the Manatee Lagoon. We had never been there before so we thought it would be fun. There was no admission cost or parking cost which made it even better. They had a nice visitor center with much information about manatees and their habitat. Then we went upstairs to an outdoor balcony where you could look down in the inlet and see the manatees. There were tons of manatees there (I stopped counting at 30). We saw several mamas with their babies. While we were there a school group came up beside me and it was so nice to hear their gasps and sounds of amazement. Then we went downstairs and walked along the outside walk to look for manatees but the view was much better from the top balcony.

 

After the lagoon, we headed north to the Jupiter Lighthouse. We had seen it several times on the news but we had never visited there before. When we arrived, we paid our $12 admission fee (senior/veterans rate) and found out that a tour was beginning at noon if we wanted to join it. We had a little time before the tour to go into the museum. Frank was the docent giving the tour and he was wonderful. He talked about the Native American history of the area before the lighthouse was built. Then he talked about the history of the lighthouse. Along the brick walk, we saw many bricks with names on them and we found one with Jimmy Buffet’s name on it. Then we climbed up to the top of the lighthouse (34 steps up to the base and 105 steps up to the top). The view was beautiful and worth seeing. When we decided to leave because we were getting hungry, we were surprised to see that we had been there for almost 3 hours.

Original photos by Pat Hensley