JUPITER CRUISES – CRITTERS TO CRUISE BY
3/1/2022
Jupiter Cruises
Sea Turtles – If they Could Talk, They might Have a Boston Accent
Swift at sea but lumbering on land, these streamlined reptiles cross oceans as easily as they glide through clear Jupiter Inlet waterways.
Hitchhiking onto the Gulf Stream, adult sea turtles often end up as far north as Cape Cod in their migratory travels.
Sign up for a tour here.
Nesting season started March 1, so female loggerhead, green and leatherback sea turtles will be visiting Jupiter beaches to lay their eggs.
Near DuBois Park is a popular spot to check out sea turtles. Your Jupiter Cruises guide will tell you all about it.
Here some sea turtle facts:
- Turtles lay about 100-125 whitish yellow eggs, about the size ping pong balls, in nests about three feet deep. Hatchlings emerge in about 2 months.
- Turtle eggs that don’t hatch help the environment. Turtles lay their eggs near dunes, which protect the shoreline. Unhatched eggs provide nutrients for the dunes to grow.
- Why are balloons not allowed in DuBois Park? Sea turtles love to munch on jellyfish. A deflated ballon floating on top of the ocean looks like a jellyfish.
Check out Loggerhead Marinelife Center for a close look at sea turtles.
Birds! Birds! Birds!
Above the Water. On the water. In the water.
There’s no shortage of colorful, quirky and chanting birds. Diving, swooping and soaring — they have a blast along Jupiter Inlet waterways.
Football-shaped roseate spoonbills gather in the shallows, their pinkish, long-legged bodies standing out from the rest of the bird crowd. Great blue herons, standing tall like they own the place, are silent flyers that sweep across the sky. Anhingas, speading their wings to dry, pose like ice dancers. And in the water, cormorants unleash their necks out straight as they spear fish.
T0 sign up for a boat tour, click here.
Here’s a few birds facts for your Jupiter cruises tour.
- A pelican’s stretchy beak pouch can hold up to 3 gallons of water – 3 times more than its stomach can hold.
- Graceful as ballerinas, Great Blue Herons fly up to 30 miles per hour and grow up to 6 feet tall. Hollow-boned with a six-foot-wide wing span, they weigh only about 7 pounds.
- Divers of the deep, cormorants use their webbed feet as engines and their wings as rudders as they dive up to 150 feet seeking food.
Peaceful Paddle
Accessible only by boat, St. Lucie Inlet Preserve State Park is a dream come true for those seeking out the natural Florida.
LOVE STREET OUTDOOR CENTER guides will take you on an hourlong boat ride from Jupiter Inlet waterways on the pristine Intracoastal Waterway to the Preserve on the northern tip of Jupiter Island, where the St. Lucie River enters the Atlantic Ocean.
To sign up for a Jupiter cruises tour, click here.
After docking at the Preserve, you’ll walk a tree-lined, shady boardwalk through lush mangrove forests and hammocks of live oaks, cabbage palms, paradise trees and wild limes to a neatly preserved Atlantic Ocean beach, a first stop on your Jupiter cruises excursion.
MANATEES — Who Says We’re Slow?
OK, that egg-shaped head, floppy fins and wide tail doesn’t make manatees built for warp drive.
But these mammals can hit it — up to 20 MPH in a burst.
Look for them along the ice-clear Jupiter Inlet Waterways, especially near Turtle Cove and Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse
To sign up for a guided tour, click here.
Manatee facts for your Jupiter cruises tour:
- The plant-gulping manatees daily eat up 10 percent of their weight — that’s 100 pounds a day for a full-grown adult.
- Manatees have the smallest brains compared to body mass among mammals.
- Manatees can hold their breath underwater for about 15-20 minutes. Usually, they come up for air every 3-5 minutes.
Cato’s Bridge — The Place to See Sealife
Like bargains at a garage sale, sea life is everywhere in the cool, clear, fast-moving waters under Cato’s Bridge.
Lobster, grouper, octopus, rays, crabs, tropicals, angel fish, shrimp, stone crab and sea turtles are what you’re likely to see on your Jupiter cruise.
And check out the nearby mangroves. Juvenile fish lake to hide out their as they grow into adulthood – they big fish can’t get ’em there.
For THINGS TO DO IN JUPITER, click here.
