Being from the area, until recently I had only been to Peanut Island once as a kid. My own kids enjoyed the beach and my mom suggested taking them there. Now we spend most weekends there where they have learned the proper way to snorkel in the lagoon, which while the water is murky at best is shallow enough to walk across and help guide them. Now they go on the east side and snorkel around the rocks which they enjoy doing and finding all the different sea life.
They now refer to themselves as little Island rats and know many of the regulars on the Marina dock by face.
I was really surprised to find out that they also now have a little store so you don't have to lug around all your food for the day anymore. And the history of the Coast Guard and the general area is pretty interesting if you enjoy that sort of thing.

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.