Blowing Rocks is a stretch of Jupiter Island where the beach is backed by a shelf of Anastasia limestone, the largest outcrop of this rock on the Atlantic coast of Florida. At high tide, and especially in winter storms, waves drive into holes and channels worn through the rock and burst out the top in spouts that can climb as high as 50 feet into the air. The Anastasia Formation runs along much of Florida's Atlantic coast, but it seldom breaks the surface as boldly as it does on Jupiter Island. Anastasia limestone is a young rock by geological standards. It formed from shell fragments and sand cemented together on beaches and shallow seafloor during a period of higher sea level, and in places it is a coquina made almost entirely of broken shells. The same rock was quarried on Anastasia Island near St. Augustine to build the Castillo de San Marcos. The preserve is owned by The Nature Conservancy, which received its first 73 acres as a gift from Jupiter Island residents in 1969. Sea turtles nest on its beach every summer, including loggerheads, greens and leatherbacks. The preserve runs across the island from the Atlantic beach to the Indian River Lagoon, and restoration crews removed thousands of invasive Australian pines and Brazilian pepper trees to replant both shores with native dune and mangrove plants.
Getting there
26.9745, -80.0810
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
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