Snook Islands Natural Area: A Beautiful and Peaceful Oasis

The Snook Islands Natural Area, located in Lake Worth Beach, Florida, is one of the most beautiful natural areas in the state. The area is only accessible by boat, and serves as an excellent place to escape from daily life and forget about your worries—both big and small. The Snook Islands Natural Area offers boaters access to wildlife and beautiful scenery at no cost whatsoever.

The Area

The Snook Island Natural Area is a 545-foot boardwalk winding around the southernmost island with a covered observation platform including benches at the end of the boardwalk, creating a spot to watch birds and fish foraging around the mangroves and sea grasses. The 580-foot fishing pier on the north side of the Lake Avenue Bridge has a dock that will handle up to eight boats for day use and serve as a water-taxi stop and has a floating kayak launch with a drop-off area for loading and unloading canoes and kayaks.

Wildlife

At the Snook Islands Natural Area, there is an array of wildlife for you to view both in the water and in the sky. Visitors to this site often report seeing aggregations of manatees in the water; a gaze of raccoons foraging and iguanas sunning themselves on land. There are numerous types of birds present as well including pelicans, herons, and white ibises.

Snook Islands Restoration Project

The Snook Islands was a neglected section of the Lake Worth Lagoon and had such a lifeless water column that it could not support any type of life. Palm Beach County’s Environment Resource Management Team’s (ERM) hard work has changed this to become a hotspot for birds and marine life. Many species of bird and marine life, like manatees, have made their way back to the area, and this is quickly becoming a favorite spot for locals. The Snook Islands oyster beds play a huge role in keeping the Lake Worth lagoon clean. They clean up the water by filtering it through their system. Paddling near the beds will let you see a water show from the oysters as they filter the lagoon. The best way to see this is kayaking where you will get close enough to see them. In the estuary of these islands, the movement of tidal currents and abundance of native and migratory wildlife result in an area of shallow waterways that can contain schools of fish, an occasional dolphin, or manatee.