Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
DRIVE YOURSELF WILD IN PALM BEACH COUNTY
From Boca Raton to upiter, here are eight locations where you can get in touch with nature
While the nation's top elephant visits Palm Beach County on a regular basis, there are all sorts of wild animals to be seen that don’t require getting past the Secret Service. Among the resorts and golf links, visitors who make the three-hour journey from Orlando can easily take a step into nature. There are a surprising number of opportunities to get in touch with native species (sea turtles and manatees) as well as exotic residents (lions and lemurs). Here are eight great options to squeeze in a wild encounter during a Palm Beach vacation.
Busch Wildlife Sanctuary
As far as animal hospitals go, this one makes for a nice walk in the woods. The nonprofit wildlife center is home to hundreds of animals that have been hit by cars, snared in fishing lines or injured in other human-involved incidents. The goal is to get the critters back back to the wild.
On any given day visitors might see bald eagles, Florida black bears, Florida panther (or the more common cougar), river otter, skunk, foxes, deer, alligators, snakes, crocodiles and wild turkey.
Part of the path through the sanctuary is along a nice boardwalk under pine flatwoods, oak hammock and cypress wetlands. Call ahead to inquire about education programs including guided tours and wildlife presentations.
Go: The sanctuary is open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 2500 Jupiter Park Drive, Jupiter. Admission is free but donations are accepted; www.buschwildlife.org or 561-575-3399
Loggerhead Marinelife Center
One of the best ways to combine nature and a beach day is at this sea turtle rehabilitation facility in Juno Beach. For more than 30 years, the center has been a working hospital that takes all species of sea turtles in need from rescue to release. At any time, there could be loggerheads, green sea turtles or other species on the mend amid the various treatment pools.
The patients are the highlight, but the center is filled with educational yet fun interactive exhibits as well as a gift shop. The whole complex is on a big park with playground, picnic tables and facilities across the street from the beach. A runoff pipe with a the continuous flow of treated (and safe) water from the treatment pools spills out onto the beach, making for a great play area for little engineers.
Beginning May 1, online registration opens for evening turtle walks in June and July and hatchling release programs in August. These popular events require an additional fee of $17 for visitors 8 years and older.
Go: The center is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. at 14200 U.S. Highway 1, Juno Beach. Admission is free but a suggested $5 donation is encouraged per visitor; www.marinelife.org or 561-627-8280
Manatee Lagoon
Sometimes nature takes advantage of the human footprint. That has been the case with Florida Power & Light’s Next Generation Clean Energy Center on the Intracoastal Waterway just south of the Port of Palm Beach. When the weather turns cold, manatees have flocked to the warm-water runoff from the plant.
In 2016, the utility opened a manatee education center filled with interactive education exhibits about the gentle giants. A two-story building offers balcony views of their gathering spot, which on cold days can attract dozens of manatees.
Manatee season in Florida runs from November-March, so the summer months will be mostly free of the migratory mammals. Even if they’re a no-show, the center with a great view of Lake Worth Lagoon still offers a free opportunity to learn about the creatures.
Go: The center is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday at 6000 N. Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach. Admission is free; www.visitmanateelagoon.com or 561-626-2833
Lion Country Safari
Some zoos have lions. This is no zoo. You don’t drive through a zoo, but here you do, and on the drive (with windows up), you will see lions, giraffes, rhinos, chimps, zebras and more.
Located in western Palm Beach County, Lion Country Safari is a great opportunity to enjoy nature from the comfort of an air-conditioned vehicle, while listening to a CD narrate the way through the park’s 900 animals in roughly 90 minutes.
Word to the wise: Visit the restroom before making the drive as there is no easy way to make an emergency exit among the caravan of cars that move even slower than Interstate 95 at rush hour.
The self-driving tour is the main draw, but other features include a small water park, petting zoo and even an option to feed the giraffes, exotic birds and fish. It’s easy to spend an entire day here.
Go: The park is open 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at 2003 Lion Country Safari Road, Loxahatchee. Admission $35 ages 10-64, $31.50 65 and over, $26 ages 3-9, free 2 and under; parking is $8; www.lioncountrysafari.com or 561-793-1084
Palm Beach Zoo
As far as zoos go, this one seems small on the surface but packs a lot around every corner. More than 550 animals reside in three themed areas: Florida Wetlands with bears, otters and deer; Islands and Asia with Malayan tigers, lemur, Komodo dragons and wallabies; and Tropics of the Americas with jaguars, spider monkeys and tapir, among others.
Visitors can get up close and personal with a koala, a couple of giant rodents called capybara, anteaters, sloths and more at $35 per person, in addition to regular admission.
In the spirit of embracing those inclined to stare at their smartphones, the zoo has a map for Pokemon hunters. For the youngest set, there’s a splash pad that acts as a central hub as well as a carousel on which visitors can legally sit atop a manatee or get your #murica on by riding a bald eagle.
Go: The zoo is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 1301 Summit Blvd., West Palm Beach. Admission is $19.95 13 and older, $17.95 60 and older, $14.95 3-12, free 2 and younger; www.palmbeachzoo.org or 561-547-9453
South Florida Science Center and Aquarium
Most of the science center is dedicated to inanimate phenomena, but there is a reason the nonprofit tacked the word aquarium onto its name.
Located just north of the Palm Beach Zoo, the science center’s underwater residents swim about in 10,000 gallons of water among several aquariums focusing on fish and friends found off Florida’s Atlantic coast as well as inland. The dark rooms make for a welcome respite from the Florida heat as visitors can view fish, moray eels, stingrays and other aquatic creatures.
There are daily touchtank demonstrations and live feedings several days a week. When done with the fish, visitors can take in the rest the science center has to offer including its new mini golf course, planetarium and summer exhibit Amazing Butterflies coming May 6.
Go: The center is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach. Admission is $16.95 13 and older, $14.95 60 and older, $12.95 ages 3-12, free 2 and under; www.sfsciencecenter.org or 561-832-1988
Sandoway Discovery Center
Want to know what it sounds like when a shark eats? Smack smack smack. Visitors find that out at this little house with an ocean view in Delray Beach. This historic two-story structure is a potpourri of nature offerings. In one dark room upstairs is a barn owl. Downstairs in what might have been the kitchen are terrariums with baby alligator, basilisk lizard, frogs and more.
Out back is the shark pool, the main draw, as well as a stingray touch tank. There are scheduled feedings of the nurse sharks most mornings and stingrays in the afternoon, although the sharks get jealous and get an afternoon snack as well.
On the porch are Maggie the Gopher Tortoise, Gigi the Florida Box Turtle and the talkative Mr. Crystal, a Blue and Gold Macaw.
Also on-site is a huge seashell collection with more than 10,000 specimens from all over the world. They’re displayed in a gorgeous cabinet with pull-out drawers filled with colorful spirals organized by where they were found.
Spending more than a few hours at this small house might be a challenge. But from shells to sharks, the visit is definitely memorable.
Go: The center is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Sunday at 142 S Ocean Blvd., Delray Beach. Admission is $5; www.sandoway.org or 561-274-7263
Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex
Another beachside nature option is 20 acres in Boca Raton named after a funny sounding tree, which isn’t even the main draw.
Instead, intricate sea-turtle rehabilitation facilities take the spotlight. Four outdoor marine aquariums allow views from all sorts of angles of four South Florida marine habitats: coastal mangrove, near-shore reef, tropical coral reef and artificial reef/shipwreck. The last one has half a broken-up ship submerged in a two-story tank filled with sharks and other saltwater sea life.
Also on-site is a Florida Atlantic University research facility that offers visitors a view of sea-turtle hatchlings in the summer and fall. Here people might see the smallest of hatchlings tethered to a bar above the tank so they don’t drown.
The site also has a boardwalk loop, but unfortunately a tower that once offered great views of the Atlantic Ocean and Intracoastal Waterway was damaged and had to be torn down. Also worth checking out are the daily fish, eel and sea-horse feedings and a second trail with a butterfly garden.
Go: The complex is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday at 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton. Admission is free but a suggested $5 donation is encouraged per visitor; www.gumbolimbo.org or 561-544-8605