The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1884-07-01
Beautiful Lake Worth.
LAKE WORTH, DADE Co., FLA,
June %. 1884.

get sick. A large number of fiying-fish
little to 10 inch fellows, white in col
or. started all around us as we were sail
ing along It is a beautiful and strange
/ sight to see these fish rise out of the wa
ter and use their large fins as wings, fly
ing like quail
The inlet to the lake is about miles
south of Jupiter, and has rocky bar,
many of the rocks sticking, at half and
low tide, out of the water. We crossed
easily. and as soon as we arrived in the
/ lake, my companions were very much
surprised at the startling beauty opening
I itself before them. Clear water-nOt
surpassed by the world-renowned Silver
I Springs-exposing to the eye of the as
/ tonished visitor the curiosities of tropi-
cal ocean. life and growth-grOwing
| spOnges. cOrals and seaweeds of innu-
merable varieties and cOlOrs, starfish.
| from whitish red to dark brown; cOnch
shells of various colOrs, and fish darting
back and forth, schools of multets chased
by trout, bass and shark, the striped
sheephead, the large drumfish, standing
on their heads, tail up, and digging
among the roots of seaweeds for food.
Looking up from this dazzling beauty,
the sight is arrested by the settlements
along the east banks, snug little houses,
looking through the park-like vegetation
of palmetto, cocoanut palms, bananas,
guavas, sugar apples, etc.
We passed on for about 10 mil 'es to the
hotel kept by Mr.. Dimmick Jr., whom /
had the pleasure of meeting last year,
but was sorry to hear that he was on a
trip nOrthward. His father, Mr.. Dim
mick, Sr, gave us free use of the whole
place, and 'help yourselves to anything
YOU wish; right back there is the patch
of pines" We strOlled along under the
cocoanut palms, blooming hibiscus, UNI
brella trees, big tamarinds, helping our
selves to pines, guavas, lines, lemons,
and few sour oranges. Then we walked
along the shore, under cocoa palms and
bananas, to the place of Mr. A. Geer,
whose ''better half" fine and elegant
lady, took her bonnet at once and
showed us the different shrubs, tees ard
grasses in bud, bloom and seed, giving
all the names, but we must beg pardon
for forgetting them.
Your correspondent couldn't resist the
temptation to try to climb a cOcoanut
palm. He had better luck than he ex-
pected, and succeeded in knocking two
nuts down.
From here we sailed down to Mr..
Charles Moore's, who is, as we believe,
the Oldest settler on the lake, and has the
largest bearing cocoanut trees. To ap-
preciate Mr. Moore, one must see him.
Medium in size. broad-shouldered, short.
grew hair and beard, brown, sunburnt,
he is the picture of vigOr and robust
e health. Assisted by his wife, he has a
beautiful place, in good condition. Open
towards the lake, covered with large,
) thick bermuda grass, dotted here and
there with flower beds and shrubbery, il
is little paradise The hospitality oi
Mr.. Moore is well known. Help your
l self is the greeting. Our captain pur
: chased about 25 punches bananas, anC
then we set sail towards the inlet, where
the water is low, and we proposed t
stop and busy ourselves in star anC
l conch fishing.
= The tide was rising, and made terri
bic current: nevertheless we soon strucl
: II.
5 enough, and on seeing starfsh lyins
/ almost in arms-reach, we jumped over
: board But imagine our surprise? Wa
: ter that seemed , to feet deep turned
out to - feet deep, and lively time
| we had to make our boat against tn
current. AfteI this, we sailed neare
/ shore. and felt for the depth. We sool
$ reached a depth of 3 to feet, and
throwing out the anchor, all of us-Car
: tain, Acll the purser and Rud tn
! mate. deserted the boat and took to div
r ing. Two hours of the most enjoyabl
e sport we had, and each averaged abou
/ Is stars. from white to dark brownie,
h color. besides numerous live conchs
some cf them blOOd-red This color
Y impaired by a species of coral-Hke insect
which bores holes into the shell, and tn
beautiful red fades away with the life. c
the insect.
n Saturday morning, crossing the na1
4 row tongue of land, Ack and myself say
le some fresh turtle "crawls." and, goin
K back to the boat, we armed ourselve
l. with hoe, basket and large pan, and SUI
20 ceeded in lifting a nest each. Ack foun
l. one with rs eggs and dug one with "a
D. the total of 258 eggs, giving us a Ill
n eral supply. Ack cooked a kettleful {
n them, whilst broke conch shell. Pul
ing out the animal, found q large po
ton of splendid white meat. I cut SON
off. closed my eyes, and ate piece.
nv establishment, found 1t of an extr;
w ordinary pleasant flavor; gave some
Ack and both of Us pronounced 1t e.