Sailfish Point’s Seawall “in the Sea”… St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

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Sailfish Point’s Seawall “in the Sea”… St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon

The seawall at Sailfish Point’s Dunes Condominium is right next to the ocean. St Lucie Inlet lies beyond this point by about a quarter-mile. 7-26-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)

Yesterday afternoon, Ed and I had hoped to walk our dogs, Bo and Baron, to the St Lucie Inlet, but were cut off by an incoming tide and a Sailfish Point’s seawall. Having grown up  in Martin County, it is amazing to see such changes “right before my 50-year-old eyes…”

Of course when I was a kid there was no Sailfish Point development, no seawall, no apparent sea level rise, just the beach sun-flowered sand dunes and Bathtub Beach changing daily to the winds of time with the remnants of James Rand’s “Seminole Shores” development crumbling…

Today Sailfish Point is here. Its 625 homes are some of the most exclusive in the county. Built in the 1980’s it was developed by Mobile Oil Corporation. The area brings tremendous tax revenue to everyone and to every school in Martin County…if it washed into the sea there would be issues for all.
Sailfish Point: (https://www.sailfishpoint.com/martin-county/)

It must be noted that the St Lucie Inlet itself is responsible for some of this erosion…the inlet was opened permanently in 1892 by pioneers led by Captain Henry Sewall of Sewall’s Point. Naturally the inlet would open and close with tides and time. Opening the inlet permanently now defines our county, and we would not give it up;  but as all things in life: there are both positives and negatives to every action.

Today the waters of the ocean are encroaching….and time seems to be speeding up.

Building on barrier islands is not particularly long-term in that barrier islands are meant by nature to turn over on themselves like a conveyor belt. On the other hand, I have been to the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach and their seawall is right up to the historic hotel and has been for years….We stave off the ocean as long as we can. Much of Florida east coast is built on barrier islands…

Anyway….today I wanted to share Ed and my walk as it is symbolic of our times.

Google map showing Hutchinson Island with Sailfish Point south next to St Lucie Inlet. East is Atlantic Ocean and west is the Indian River Lagoon and Sewall's Point.
Google map showing Hutchinson Island showing St Lucie Inlet. Sailfish Point immediately north of inlet. East is Atlantic Ocean and west is the Indian River Lagoon and Sewall’s Point and St Lucie River.

Other than the surreal seawall and encroaching sea….there were many sea turtle nests, marked by the Fish and Wildlife Commission. Many turtles had laid their eggs right up against the seawall! Many of them! I counted at least 50 just in our short walk. Good for the turtles but it seems many nest are doomed to wash away… For thousands of years these turtles have returned to the beaches of their birth to lay eggs. Now many of them literally come up “against a wall.”

Turtle nest right up the seawall at Sailfish Point. 7-26-15.(Photo JTL)
Turtle nest right up the seawall at Sailfish Point. 7-26-15.(Photo JTL)
Turtle nest close to SP's seawall. (JTL)
Turtle nest close to SP’s seawall. (JTL)
Sea turtle nest. (JTL)
Sea turtle nest. (JTL)

I must mention that the people of Sailfish Point are also “up against a wall,” as they have to worry about their homes falling into the sea….Here one sees a sea wall repair taking place. I don’t think the sea wall is that old in the first place.

Home at Sailfish Point undergoing seawall repair. 7-16-15. (Photo JTL)
Home at Sailfish Point undergoing seawall repair. 7-26-15. (Photo JTL)
Ed looks inside sea wall being repaired. (Photo JTL)
Ed looks inside sea wall being repaired. (Photo JTL)

The most intense erosion seems to be the north area of Sailfish Point, closest to Bathtub Beach….and it is summer. This should be the time the ocean, sands and tides are most forgiving. Winter waves are much more brutal, unless there is a hurricane of course….

The other interesting anomaly Ed, Bo, and Baron and I experienced was the hundreds of sea hare mollusks that had washed up on shore. Ed Killer of TC Palm just wrote a great piece on these interesting, harmless creatures that scientists believe are washing ashore due to cold water upswells and algae shifts in the ocean–their swimming affected, they slow down and carried to shore by the waves drying out in the sun.

As Ed and I walked back I picked up as many as I could and threw them back into the ocean knowing that really I was only “buying them some time.” Chances are they will wash right back up on the shore. In the end, nature always wins. In time, we like the sea hares, will find this out , but until then it’s a great walk on the beach, isn’t it?

A sea rabbit that had washed ashore near Sailfish Point 7-26-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)
One of hundreds of sea hare mollusks  that had washed ashore near Sailfish Point 7-26-15. (Photo Ed Lippisch)

Video of sea hare: (https://youtu.be/_Oa_xeM67p0)

Ed stands with Bo and Baron in front of the seawall at Sailfish Point looking towards the sea....(Photo JTL)
Ed stands with Bo and Baron in front of the seawall at Sailfish Point looking towards the sea….(Photo JTL)

 

Playing  fetch with Bo and Baron, (Photo JTL)
Playing fetch with Bo and Baron, (Photo JTL)
Jacqui and Ed, Bathtub Beach, Stuart, Florida. 2015.
Jacqui and Ed, near Bathtub Beach, Stuart, Florida. 2015. We had fun even though the beach is not what it used to be….

Sea Hares:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aplysiomorpha)

Barrier Islands:(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_island)

Human Causes of Coastal Erosion:(https://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Human_causes_of_coastal_erosion)

headshot-jtl-2013About Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch:

Although born at Travis Air Base, California, Jacqui considers herself a native of Stuart, Florida, having moved there at eight months old. Her father’s family, originally from Syracuse, New York, has lived in Stuart since 1952. Her mother is a 5th generation Floridian from Gainesville. Jacqui is a Daughter of the American Revolution.

Jacqui is journalism graduate of the University of Florida, and an education master’s graduate of the University of West Florida. She went on to teach English and German and later after a serious accident of breaking her neck, started selling real estate. Later, she ran for public office having served on the Town of Sewall’s Point Commission since 2008, and is former mayor. During this time she saw the opportunity to help showcase the work of a locally formed river group, the River Kidz, and this has been her passion ever. She incorporates youth/river education  into her political work for the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon.

Jacqui is the treasurer/secretary of the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council; has chaired the Florida League of Cities Environmental and Energy Committee; was chair, and a six year member of the Treasure Coast Council of Local Governments; is an alternate for the Water Resources Advisory Commission for the South Florida Water Management District; and is a board member for Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute Foundation, in St Lucie County.  She also serves as a board member (ex-officio) for the Rivers Coalition Defense Fund, and is head administrator for her beloved River Kidz, now a division of the Rivers Coalition.

Jacqui’s reach involves not only local, but state and federal government. In 2013,  she served on Senator Joe Negron’s panel for the Select Senate Hearing on the Indian River Lagoon and Lake Okeechobee. In 2014, she actively supported the elections of both Senator Joe Negron and Congressman Patrick Murphy who have both been strong supporters of  Indian River Lagoon issues. In 2015, she is part of the Florida League Cities Treasure Coast Advocacy team to influence and educate Tallahassee. Jacqui received the Everglades Coalition’s 2015 “John V. Kabler Award” for “Grassroots Activism” working to organize and educate the public, generating grassroots support for Everglades restoration.

– See more at: (https://evergladescoalition.org/awards-kabler.html#sthash.lt7eGpIp.dpuf)

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