Farewell Jupiter

Always Glamorous Besties! 

Our last day in Florida seemed to sneak up on us so quickly.  We decided to have a slow, easy day; packing our things for tomorrow's return flight to Toronto, and just hang around Jupiter for a bit.  On the first day of our visit to Jupiter, Luke had spotted a park on the river (from way up on the lighthouse deck).  We found out it was called Dubois Park on Jupiter Inlet, almost directly across from the Jupiter lighthouse.  We thought we would go check it out today.

Snorkel Lagoon

There was plenty of free parking at Dubois Park (at least in off season).  One could spend hours just watching the boat traffic heading in and out of Jupiter Inlet.  There is also a walking trail that leads to a snorkeling lagoon with a bridge crossing  over the Loxahatchee river here.  Liam was really interested in the beautiful bright blue fish in the river; we never found out what they were called-he figured they were piranha. 🐠 🐠 🐠

Catching some rays

Dubois Park is a delightful local secret. With its' palm tree lined promenade, playground, swimming beaches, picnic area, historic pioneer house and a jetty for local fishermen to hang out.  The jetty stuck out into the windy North Atlantic Ocean and was littered with fishermen young and old-and pelicans (young and old).  There was a certain kind of magic on that jetty; the pelicans sat patiently waiting for a piece of bait to be tossed their way from the bait buckets, like obedient dogs.  In exchange for the treats, the pelicans did not swoop down and steal the bait, scare away potential catch, or fly around and poop on the humans 😉

Pelican Love!!!

There also seemed to be an order within the pelican realm.  The younger pelicans would sit sunning themselves in an out of the way place, watching all the action. The older pelicans almost queued up beside their favourite fisher-human for their bait treats.  All but one "King of The Pelicans" who majestically sat out on his rock in the crashing surf; keeping watch for??? sharks or something?  I kept whispering to the gentle birds "there are easy to catch blue fish in the snorkeling lagoon" but I think they were just too lazy to move.
It was a very cool scene; but it actually made me homesick for my chickens.

King of the Pelicans Keeping Watch

I noticed the fish in the bait buckets were starting to looking pretty appetizing; and was thinking I could probably wrestle a chunk away from one of the smaller birds.  Jenny suddenly mentioned lunch, and we all yelled "Dune Dog"!  So we headed back to the beloved Dune Dog for crab cakes and fish sandwiches all washed down with the most delicious sangria.  Oh man, those pelicans don't know what they are missing!








Now, we needed to head back to Tequesta to pack up the rest of our things for the next mornings flight, and clean our rental house.  We had purchased some beautiful exotic local sea shells to bring home for our collection and a nice bottle of wine in the fish shaped bottle. We also decided to go out for a fancy dinner at one of the restaurants situated across from the Jupiter lighthouse that evening as a treat.

The sun was beginning to set on this gorgeous day and I was restless to catch one more sublime Florida sunset.  Jenny suggested we hop on some bikes and take a spin around Tequesta. So we jumped on, and pedaled off to the river to watch the sunset.  We came to a vacant spot along the river with a giant banyan tree and we watched the sun slowly slip below the Loxahathee one last time.




Tonight was our last chance to celebrate together with our dear friend Jenny; who made this trip possible for us with her kindness and hospitality. 
I had this romantic image in my mind of sitting out on a patio, sipping wine and watching the lighthouse beacon shining over the Inlet.  Jenny took us to Jetty's restaurant in Jupiter; a beautiful restaurant situated right on the wharf overlooking Jupiter Inlet.  It was packed full of diners-except for out on the patio.  The patio was empty, yet there were propane patio heaters warming the space which was enclosed by a  transparent plastic circus tent-we felt lucky to have the space to ourselves.   The view was spectacular and the food was divine.  I sat contentedly entranced by the lighthouse like a moth to a flame, sipping my wine and fantasizing about our next visit to this wild and tropical paradise called FLORIDA.

Sunset on the Loxahatchee

Bonus video of Olivia Newton John impersonation by JJ!