BICYCLE JUPITER CRUISES – 5 DELIGHTFUL THINGS ON DUBOIS PARK
Bicycle Jupiter Cruises:
With water on three sides, wide beaches, walking/biking trails, fishing and activities for kids, DUBOIS PARK is a family favorite for locals and visitors.
The park on the beautiful Jupiter Inlet is open 356 days a year. Parking is free.
Click here for for a Bicycle Jupiter Cruises tour.
DUBOIS: WHO WERE THEY?
The original residents of the 1998-built home were Harry and Susan DuBois. They married on Sept. 15, 1898 after meeting on a blind date at the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse.
The DuBois’ had three sons and one daughter. All four children were born in the home. They fished, farmed, salvaged and also ran a fishing camp and later a restaurant on the property that is now DuBois Park.
They fished, raised their own food, had a cow, chickens, and ducks, sold bananas, vegetables, guava jelly and shot intrusive animals for dinner. The children went to school in Jupiter via a school boat through grade 10. They raised bees, and had up to 600 hives.
Reservations to tour the home in DuBois Park are available here.
PLEASURES — AND DANGERS — OF JUPITER INLET
The turquoise runway to the Atlantic Ocean is beautiful, but the Jupiter Inlet can be deadly.
The 400-foot-wide Jupiter Inlet, along with the St. Lucie, Lake Worth, Boynton and Boca Raton inlets, are some of the local paths for boaters to get to and from the Atlantic Ocean.
Each inlet is tough for boaters. But of those four, Jupiter Inlet is the most difficult, say many sailors.
“Jupiter gets the big surf breaking in the mouth of the inlet. You got shallow sandbars shifting around. There’s the angle of the waves. When the tide is running out and the big swells are coming in, it’s rough. You can be hanging on for dear life out there,” says a local charter boat captain.
Questions? Your Love Street Outdoor Center guide has answers during your bicycle Jupiter cruises adventure.
INLET LIGHTHOUSE – JUPITER’S JEWEL
The Civil War. Malaria. Powerful storms. The Seminole Wars. Confederate blockade runners. Union gunboats patrolling offshore. German U-boats and submarines off Jupiter during WW II. U.S. Military radar station in the inlet.
The history of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse is not boring.
The 105-step tower was officially lighted on July 10, 1860.
Local confederate sympathizers disabled the light, which remained dark throughout the Civil War.
The lighthouse was relit on June 28, 1866.
The lighthouse — open daily except holidays — has remained an active aid to navigation ever since.
On a clear night, the light can be seen up to 25 miles out to sea.
Ask your Love Street Outdoor Center guide for more lighthouse details on this bicycle Jupiter cruises adventure.
KIDS LOVE THE KIDDIE LAGOON
Lifeguarded, shallow and full of little fish, the clear lagoon is a blissful place for families.
Perched on the pristine waters off the Jupiter Inlet, with the red brick lighthouse to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, kids love to get out their face masks and fins and search for shells and tiny crabs and tropical fish. Manmade rock formations break the waves to protect swimmers.
Enjoy a snack at the picnic tables and grills under the shade of coconut palm and Australian pines along the shore of the lagoon.
DIVING TREASURES OFF JUPITER’S COAST
Challenging the treacherous waters off Jupiter in the 1600-1700s, Spanish galleons and merchant ships hauling gold and silver from Mexico and South America hugged the coast as they sailed with the Gulf Stream’s powerful north current.
Many — no GPS in those days — did not make it through the narrow channels, keel-ripping coral reefs, changing sand bars and sail slashing hurricanes.
The shipwrecks left treasures of cannons, anchors, navigational tools, coins and gold scattered on the ocean floor.
Your Love Street Outdoor Center tour guide will have more info on bicycle Jupiter cruises adventure.
HUNGRY?
Ice cream, burgers and a mini-golf is just a short walk away after your bicycle Jupiter cruises tour at Lighthouse Cove Adventure Golf.
Don’t forget to check out their outdoor playground. And the giant aquarium in the inside of the Lighthouse Cove restaurant, teeming with colorful fish.
A great finish for your bicycle Jupiter cruise.
For more THINGS TO DO IN JUPITER, check out our blog here.