Jensen Beach is on Hutchinson Island, about 20 minutes from the PGA Village, maybe longer if there’s traffic. We drove down to the City of Jensen Beach, a little south of St. Lucie. Since it was a Tuesday, there was plenty of public parking. Greeting us at the parking lot were two beautiful volleyball nets completely surrounded by green shrubbery with soft sand and rope lines. We wished we had brought a ball. I had to settle for photos for my volleyball website. The beach itself was busy, but not crowded. There were retirees, people on vacation like us, students between classes, and there was even one beach comber. Never seen one in person before!
Because of bad weather off the shore, the waves were huge and it was very windy; perfect for surfing, but not for lying on the beach and reading a book. Sand kept blowing on the pages. It was still a warm, sunny day so a nap would just have to do. We took a long walk heading north, which turns into private condos and hotels. Disappointed there wasn’t much shopping. The beach is still accessible to everyone though. At the public area of the beach there is also a grill with outdoor seating (mostly benches, but a few tables that have umbrellas to get out of the sun). The food’s not great, but it’s hard to mess up a grilled tuna sandwich.
After the morning at the beach, we then drove along A1A all the way up to Fort Piece. A1A runs along the length of the barrier islands so we saw beaches and coves and lots and lots of development (which was sad because the trees and land were beautiful). We wished we had rented a convertible, but we did have a sun roof. We made it back to the resort just late enough in the afternoon take a nap before dinner.