My husband and I took our boat to the west side docks. We saw a couple of manatees in the murky lagoon waters. A brick path encircles the island with sporadic rest rooms, camp sites, beaches, a swimming lagoon and signage explaining the plant and animal life. We joined three young Canadians on a ten dollar, 35 minute tour of the Kennedy bunker and the coast guard station. The bunker was small and un-presidential, but quite interesting. On the whole, it is most impressive what the government has done to create an eco-system on this manmade island of dredged material in the middle of bustline Palm Beach inlet.

Snorkeling in the Peanut Island artificial lagoon is a mixed proposition. On the one hand, it's not flushed properly by the tides, so you have more of a lake-snorkel feel to your excursion. Kind of yucky, so the lagoon is usually empty of snorkelers and swimmers. BUT... as with many avoided locations, there are some definite reasons to try it at least once. Our friend Bob encountered a manatee when he was there. We saw itty-bitty baby barracudas (near the rocks by the bridge) and, best of all, LOTS of upside-down jellyfish (in the shallowest parts of the lagoon). I'm sure there's plenty more in there - just be prepared to not have crystal clear waters. Right outside the lagoon, though, is great clear-water ocean snorkeling. In addition to all the expected colorful reef fish, we've seen lobsters, shrimp, a stonefish, different types of crabs, and a manatee. My recommendation is to come prepared to enjoy both parts of Peanut Island. (By the way, we live within biking distance and go to Peanut Island often to snorkel.)

My family which consists of my husband, myself , my son 13 and daughter 9 are staying in west palm beach this week and heard about peanut island. we took a drive over and ate breakfast at the marina...(great) then took the water taxi over to peanut island. we had purchased cheap snokles and masks at a local drug store and brought a few drinks and neccessities... the water was crystal clear, there were shallow areas for my daughter to explore and deeper areas of the reef for my husband to play deep sea diver in ha. we really enjoyed the entire experience. we saw huge star fish, a poisonous stone fish, angel fish, schools of thousands of feeder fish, we saw baracuda and crabs... the water was cool but the sun was hot and we just really enjoyed our 4 hours on the island... the shuttle took you back and forth ever 2 hours and originally we were going to stay only 2 hours...but we changed our minds and enjoyed the stay very much. we highly recommend the peanut island for any age. it was a lovely day.

Being raised in west Palm Beach from the age of 1 Peanut Island was a great place to hang out after school, weekends and during the summer.
We would camp, fish, dive and torment the coasties who were stationed on the island with our youthful antics. This would include engaging them in dirtbomb fights and then have them chase us all over the island. They were always great fun and good sports. The island was originally formed in 1925 from the dredging of Lake Worth Inlet. It's name came from the planned installation of a peanut factory that never came into fruition. During the 60's a bomb shelter was built behind the Coast Guard station, both the station and shelter still exist as the Palm Beach Maritime Museum. The island is going through a re-development stage by the Army Corps of Engineers, FIND and Palm Beach County. These plans include an artificial snorkling reef, nature trails, camping sites and many other planned amenities. While part of the island is closed due to construction the Northwest and east quadrants are open to camping and daily activites. The only way to Peanut Island is by boat and I happen to own one the 3 water taxi's available to transport visitors to the island. The Aqua Shuttle 561-723-0404 is an ex-navy troop transporter previously attached to the USS Trenton. She transported marines ashore during the Gulf War during combat assaults. We are located at the Riviera Beach Municipal Marina in Riviera Beach Florida. This is just minutes away from Peanut Island with the fare being $5.00 for a round trip ticket.