Getting Around St. Lucie County is approximately 120 miles southeast of Orlando and 120 miles north of Miami, along the Atlantic coast. The area also benefits from the service provided by St. Lucie County International Airport. Commercial commuter service is offered at this rapidly expanding facility. A University of Maryland expert, Stephen Leatherman, ranks St. Lucie's beaches among the best in America. The South Hutchinson Island beaches feature a boardwalk, dressing areas with showers, picnic tables and lifeguards at five locations throughout the year.
Martin County is another water wonderland.
Unincorporated Jensen Beach harbors an environmental studies center. At 85 feet above sea level, Jensen Beach is eastern Florida's high point. It's also called the sea turtle capital of the world because so many of the large loggerhead variety come ashore here each summer to lay their eggs. You'll also want to visit the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, where a highly trained staff of 230 conducts underwater marine research in pursuit of their goal of understanding and protecting oceans, estuaries and their coastal regions. Part of the 500-acre complex on the Indian River lagoon contains an oceanographic museum.