Stormy Weather

The Treasure Coast of Florida (which consists of Indian River, St. Lucie, and Martin Counties) has been experiencing drought conditions since the beginning of November, but this past weekend the weather turned a little stormy, with rough surf and possible rip currents. I took the photograph on the left yesterday afternoon between downpours and just made it back to the car before the rain began again. In the background is the House of Refuge, which was built in 1875 on Hutchinson Island, just east of present-day Stuart, as a lifesaving station.  If ships foundered on the offshore reef called Gilbert's Bar, sailors would be rescued and given a place to sleep by what were called "keepers" until a ship came and picked them up. The House of Refuge is now a museum operated by the Historical Society of Martin County. Back when it was a lifesaving station, this area was all wilderness. These days it is all traffic.

Meanwhile, in Jupiter, the surf was also pretty rough, as seen in the photograph on the right. Jupiter has about three and a half miles of beach, which runs from the Juno Beach Pier up to and beyond Carlin Park. Whenever I pass the sign for this park, I think about Elliot Carlin, the long-time patient of Dr. Bob Hartley on the old Bob Newhart Show. Mr. Carlin would always greet people he didn't know by asking the person next to him "Who's this Bozo?", among other endearing traits. I have to assume the park was not named after him, although I recently found out that Google Maps shows the condo on Sheridan Road in Chicago where Bob and Emily Hartley were supposed to live in that series, and so you never know.

I have never had much luck when I visit Blowing Rocks Preserve, run by the Nature Conservancy and located on Jupiter Island, which is situated between Jupiter and Stuart. The blurb on the internet for this preserve states that "Blowing Rocks is a unique limestone outcrop in Florida where breaking waves spray plumes of water up to 50 feet in height through erosional holes, creating a distinctive and memorable spectacle." The first time I visited was last summer, and a sign said that the rocks were currently covered by sand and to visit another time. I thought that given the rough surf this past weekend, this would be the time to check the place out. But alas, no. I have to assume that the "distinctive and memorable spectacle" must only occur at high tide, which would have been around 11:30 P.M., and I did not feel like hanging out there for another 8 1/2 hours. Which is why I am featuring the photograph on the left, which shows un-blowing rocks, but pretty big waves, nonetheless.