Nearest Airport
: Palm Beach Internatioal Airport
at 57
Miles
Nearest Motorway
: US #1 Federal Highway
at 6.5
Miles
Nearest Beach
: Stuart Beach
at 1.5
Miles
Nearest Barpub
: Hutchinson Island Resort -Marriott
at 0.6
Miles
Nearest Golf
: The Ocean Club- Hutchinson Island Marriott
at 0.2
Miles
Nearest Restaurant
: Hutchinson Island Resort- Marriott
at 0.6
Miles
Car: necessary
Indian River Plantation is a quaint complex on Hutchinson Island. Since Martin Co. has strict building codes there is five story heights limit and a lot of natural vegetation space. The Treasure Coast area offer beautiful beaches and golf courses. Manatee Pocket which is only 15 minute drive or boat ride offers some of the best fishing in the area. The St. Lucie Inlet which is a five minute drive or boat ride gives you access between the Intercoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean. There are numerous companies that offer Deep Sea Fishing trips and boat rentals out of Manatee Pocket or Jensen Beach. There are two rivers you cross before getting onto Hutchinson Island, they are the St. Lucie & Indian River. Downtown Stuart offers great shopping and restaurants. Downtown Jensen Beach offers some of the same things. There is a great scenic drive to get there by either traveling along Sewalls Point Road which is a right after the first bridge or going along the Ocean Blvd./ A1A then crossing over the Jensen Beach Causeway. Both towns give you the feeling of a South Florida fishing village. You can also take A1A farther north to Ft. Pierce and stop on your way at the FPL's Energy Encounter Museum.
One of my favorite places to go is Concy Joe's Seafood on Sunday afternoon to hear the Calypso Band and eat conch fritters. The kids love to feed the fish that swim by your table when sitting out on the patio. It's located one block north after crossing the Jensen Beach Causeway bridge. Pirate Cove Marina in Manatee Pocket also offers live music and food by their pool on the weekends.
In the winter during the end of February and into March a couple major league baseball teams have their spring training in the area. They call the teams that come to the area the Grapefruit League. These teams offer great baseball at reasonable prices. Starting in May you can roam the beach at night looking for Sea Turtles that come out of the sea to lay their eggs. Then the end of June you can look out for the babies that have hatched and are looking to crawl back into the sea. This last last until the beginning on November.
Some of the neat area attractions are Children's Museum, FLP's Energy Encounter, House of Refuge (5 minutes drive), Elliott Museum (5 min. drive), Florida Oceanographic Coastal Center (5 min. drive), OxBow Eco-Center, Stuart Heritage Museum, The Barn Theatre, The Lyric Theatre.
Less than a 30 minute car ride south on US Federal Hwy. 1 will take you to Jonathan Dickerson State Park where you can canoe on the river and see alligators sunning on the banks. As a kid this was one of my favorite places to visit and camp. Just another 10 minutes down the road is the bridge to Hope Sound which will take you to Hope Sound National Wildlife Refuge. You can actually reach this reserve faster by water when you take the IntraCoastal Way/Indian River to Pecks Lake. It's about a twenty minute boat ride.
For the real adventurous traveler you can take the Florida Turnpike North to Orlando and be at Disney World or Universal Studios Theme Park in less than 3 hours. As a kid our family would get up early in the morning drive there and return late at night. However with the massive number of hotels in Orlando/Kissimmee area you can always find a good bargain on hotel rooms. A lot shorter drive from Stuart is to hop on I-95 and head south to West Palm/Palm Beach area which is about an hour drive. Or take the freeway farther south to Ft. Lauderdale/ Miami area. You can be in South Beach Miami in two hours. The Florida Keys start another hour south.
The area offers plenty of shopping with the Treasure Coast Mall in Jensen Beach and lots of discount retail shops (ie: Marshall Chain Stores, Tuesday Morning, SteinMart and many more) running along US Federal HWY 1 from Jupiter to Ft. Pierce. Plenty of grocery stores in the area with a Publix .6 miles from complex. Medical Center and Hospital only a 15 minute drive.
This area offers so many activities for it's visitors but to me the best thing it gives you is the ability to relax. Whether you enjoy quiet walks on the beach in early morning or late afternoon. Bird watching on the river or over the ocean. Meals or drinks on your patio or at a dock. Plus geniue southern hospitality, even from transplanted northern folks. Everyone is friendly and helpful every place you go in town.
