Martin County Ocean Rescue provides real-time beach conditions through Safe Beach Day, an online tool that replaces the Beach Information Hotline. Safe Beach Day helps you plan a safe visit with up-to-date information, including:
| Beach Location | Address | Guarded Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Bathtub Beach | 1585 SE MacArthur Blvd., Stuart, FL | 10:00 a.m. – 4:50 p.m. |
| Hobe Sound Beach | 1 SE Beach Road, Hobe Sound, FL | 10:00 a.m. – 4:50 p.m. |
| Jensen Beach | 4191 NE Ocean Blvd., Jensen Beach, FL |
|
| Stuart Beach | 889 NE Ocean Blvd., Stuart, FL |
|
To promote coastal access for everyone, Martin County Ocean Rescue operates a Beach Wheelchair Program. These light all-terrain chairs are available to assist individuals with mobility limitations in enjoying Martin County’s beaches.
Beach wheelchairs are available at the following guarded locations:
To request a beach wheelchair, please speak directly with a lifeguard at one of the guard towers. Availability is limited and provided on a first-come, first-served basis at no charge.
For over 25 years, the Martin County Library System and The Library Foundation of Martin County have hosted BookMania! to bring readers together with 468 emerging and best-selling authors. However, in recent years, participation and book sales have steadily declined, especially since the coronavirus pandemic.
At the same time, the publishing industry has changed. Many book festivals are now funded through author speaking fees rather than book sales, making it difficult to sustain the BookMania! model. Due to these challenges - including lower attendance, fewer book sales, and shifting industry trends - the Library is unable to continue BookMania! as an author festival.
Thank you for your support over the years. We look forward to exploring new ways to connect our community with great authors and books!
As an alternative, please see our Virtual Author Talks for live and recorded interviews with nationally recognized authors.
Previous BookMania! video recordings of each panel discussion are available on the Library's YouTube channel or Crowdcast as noted below.
2024 Annabel Monaghan - Same Time Next Summer
2024 Armando Lucas Correa - The Silence in Her Eyes
2024 Darby Kane - The Engagement Party
2024 Earl Swift - Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island
2024 Katherine Reay - The Berlin Letters
2024 Kevin Sites - The Ocean Above Me
2024 Kristy Woodson Harvey - The Summer of Songbirds
2024 Megan Collins - Thicker Than Water
2024 Melissa Rivero - Flores and Miss Paula
2024 Patti Callahan Henry - The Secret Book of Flora Lea
2024 Talia Carner - The Boy with the Star Tattoo
2023 Clay Henderson - Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation
2023 James Clark - Florida Literary Luminaries
2023 Alex Finlay - What Have We Done
2023 Mary Kubica - Just the Nicest Couple
2023 Megan Miranda - The Only Survivors
2023 Ashley Poston - The Dead Romantics
2023 Elinor Lipman - Ms. Demeanor
2023 Jean Meltzer - Mr. Perfect on Paper
2023 Brendan Slocumb - The Violin Conspiracy
2023 Fiona Davis - The Magnolia Palace
2023 Madeline Martin - The Librarian Spy
2022 Virtual - Michael Tougias - A Storm Too Soon and The Waters Between Us
2022 Virtual - Wanda Morris - All Her Little Secrets
2022 Virtual - Spencer Quinn - Tender Is the Bite
2022 Virtual - John Searles - Her Last Affair
2022 Virtual - Kristin Harmel - The Forest of Vanishing Stars
2022 Virtual - Sheila Williams - Things Past Telling
2021 Virtual - Sadeqa Johnson - Yellow Wife
2021 Virtual - Sherianna Boyle - Emotional Detox For Anxiety
2021 Virtual - Carey Davidson - The Five Archetypes
2021 Virtual - Madeleine Henry - The Love Proof
2021 Virtual - Susie Yang - White Ivy
2021 Virtual - Kristin Harmel - The Book of Lost Names
2021 Virtual - Kristy Woodson Harvey - Feels Like Falling, Under the Southern Sky
2021 Virtual - William Kent Kruger - This Tender Land
2020 Cancelled - Coronavirus Pandemic
2019 Emily Arsenault - The Last Thing I Told You
2019 JoAnn Chaney - As Long as We Both Shall Live
2019 Alison Gaylin - If I Die Tonight
2019 Lauren Doyle Owens - The Other Side of Everything
2019 Carol Goodman - The Other Mother
2019 Sophie Hannah - Next to Die
2019 Bryan Reardon - The Real Michael Swann
2019 Hank Phillippi Ryan - Trust Me
2019 Diane Chamberlain - The Dream Daughter
2019 Susan Wiggs - Between You and Me
2019 James Patterson - The Chef
2019 Sarah Bird - Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen
2019 Alan Brennert - Daughter of Moloka'i
2019 Yangsze Choo - The Night Tiger
2018 Jamie Ford - Love and other Consolation Prizes
2018 Lisa Wingate - Before We Were Yours
2018 Kate Quinn - The Alice Network
2018 Larry Olmsted - Real Food, Fake Food
2018 James Hamblin - If Our Bodies Could Talk
2018 David Rosenfelt - Collared
2018 Maria Goodavage - Secret Service Dogs
2018 Charles Todd - The Gate Keeper
2018 Liv Constantine - The Last Mrs. Parrish
2018 Paul Kix - The Saboteur
2018 Rene Denfeld - The Child Finder
2018 AJ Finn - The Woman in the Window
2018 Anne Hillerman - Song of the Lion
2017 Dr. Steven Massey - Smart Fat
2017 Rumaan Alam - Rich and Pretty
2017 Jade Chang - The Wangs vs. the World
2017 Hirsh Sawhney - South Haven
2017 Jung Yun - Shelter
2017 Jay Asher - Thirteen Reasons Why
2017 Paul Grifin - Burning Blue
2017 Martha Hall Kelly - Lilac Girls
2017 James Haley - The Shores of Tripoli
2017 Andrew Malan Milward - I Was a Revolutionary
2017 Helen Simonson - The Summer Before the War
2016 Les Standiford - Water to the Angels
2016 Kim van Alkemade - Orphan #8
2016 Meg Waite Clayton - The Race for Paris
2016 Dolen Perkins-Valdez - Balm
2016 Katy Simpson Smith - Free Men
2016 Alafair Burke - The Ex
2016 Tami Hoag - The Bitter Season
2016 Phillip Margolin - Violent Crimes
2016 Lisa Unger - Crazy Love You
2016 McLain - Circling the Sun
2015 Hampton Sides – in the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeanette
2015 Scott Cheshire – High as the Horses’ Bridles
2015 Patricia Harman – The Reluctant Midwife
2015 Mary Doria Russell – Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
2015 Cara Black – Murder on the Champ de Mars
2015 Lisa black – Close to the Bone
2015 Lis Wiehl – Lethal Beauty
2015 Marie-Helene Bertino – 2 A.M. at the Cat’s Pajamas
2015 Mira Jacob – The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing
2015 Jack Livings – The Dog: Stories
2015 Joseph Kanon – The Good German
2015 Laura Lippman – Every Secret Thing
2015 Peter Swanson – The Girl with a Clock for a Heart
2014 Carol Andersen - A Chance of Snow
2014 Laura Atchison - What Would a Wise Woman Do?
2014 Judith Barnes, Ph.D, - Kindness
2014 Claire Bidwell Smith - Rules of Inheritance
2014 Tom Clavin - The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream; The Heart of All that Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend
2014 Mary E. Dawson - The River Way Home: The Adventures of the Cowboy, the Indian and the Amazon Queen
2014 Jane Green - Tempting Fate
2014 Marjan Kamali - Together Tea
2014 Rick Kogan - A Life in Print: Reflections on Titans of the Typewriter
2014 Michelle Madow - The Secret Diamond Sisters
2014 Said Sayrafiezadeh - Brief Encounters with the Enemy
2014 Dani Shapiro - Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life
2014 Sonia Taitz - The Watchmaker’s Daughter
2014 Karen Thompson Walker - The Age of Miracles
2013 Rilla Askew - Kind of Kin
2013 Wiley Cash - A Land More Kind Than Home
2013 Mary Jane Clark - Footprints in the Sand
2013 Debra Dean - The Mirrored World
2013 Karen Engelmann - The Stockholm Octavo
2013 Loren D. Estleman - Burning Midnight
2013 Anna Funder - All That I Am
2013 James Grippando - Blood Money
2013 Lt. Col. Dan Hampton - Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat
2013 Reeve Lindbergh - Against Wind and Tide: Letters and Journals, 1947-1986 (by Anne Morrow Lindbergh)
2013 Katherine Hall Page - The Body in the Boudoir
2013 Vaddey Ratner - In the Shadow of the Banyan
2013 Gene Allen Smith - The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812
2013 Les Standiford - Desperate Sons: Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, John Hancock, and the Secret Bands of Radicals Who Led the Colonies to War
2012 Nevada Barr - The Rope: An Anna Pigeon Novel
2012 Marisa de los Santos - Falling Together
2012 Paul Doiron - Trespasser
2012 Andre Dubus III - Townie
2012 Erin Duffy - Bond Girl
2012 Lauren Groff - The Monsters of Templeton
2012 Jennifer Haigh - Faith
2012 Gregg Hurwitz - You’re Next
2012 Jeffrey Kluger - The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers and Sisters Reveal About Us
2012 Jim Lehrer - Tension City: Inside the Presidential Debates, from Kennedy-Nixon to Obama-McCain
2012 Jeff Lindsay - Double Dexter
2012 Wendy McClure - The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie
2012 Alicia Oltuski - Precious Objects: A Story of Diamonds, Family, and a Way of Life
2011 Jennifer Arnold - Through a Dog’s Eyes
2011 Robert Barclay - If Wishes Were Horses
2011 Ted Bell - Warlord: An Alex Hawke Novel
2011 Elizabeth Berg - The Last Time I Saw You
2011 Roy Blount, Jr., Hail, Hail Euphoria!: Presenting the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup, the Greatest War Movie Ever Made
2011 C. J. Box - Three Weeks to Say Goodbye
2011 Susannah Charleson - Scent of the Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search and Rescue Dog
2011 Susanna Daniel - Stiltsville
2011 Scott Eyman - Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille
2011 Joy Fielding - The Wild Zone
2011 Joe Finder - Vanished
2011 Connie May Fowler - How Clarissa Burden Learned to Fly
2011 Jamie Freveletti - Running Dark
2011 Conor Grennan - Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal
2011 S. C. Gwynne - Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History
2011 Michael Harvey - The Third Rail
2011 Susan Henderson - Up From the Blue
2011 Karl Marlantes - Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War
2011 Joyce Maynard - The Good Daughters
2011 Bonnie McEneaney - Messages: Signs, Visits and Premonitions from Loved Ones Lost on 9/11
2011 Martha McPhee - Dear Money
2011 Michael Morris - Slow Way Home; A Place Called Wiregrass
2011 Sena Jeter Naslund - Adam & Eve
2011 Helen Simonson - Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand
2010 Ann Louise Bardach - Without Fidel: A Death Foretold in Miami, Havana and Washington
2010 Allison Hoover Bartlett - The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: The True Story of a Thief, a Detective, and a World of Literary Obsession
2010 Steve Berry - The Paris Vendetta
2010 Lisa Black - Evidence of Murder
2010 Sheramy Bundrick - Sunflowers
2010 Claire Cook - The Wildwater Walking Club
2010 Robert Goolrick - A Reliable Wife
2010 Masha Hamilton - 31 Hours
2010 Katherine Howe - The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
2010 Paulette Jiles - The Color of Lightning
2010 Kaylie Jones - Lies My Mother Never Told Me: A Memoir
2010 Roberta Lee, M.D. - The Superstress Solution
2010 Julie Metz - Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal
2010 Norman Ollestad - Crazy for the Storm: A Memoir of Survival
2010 James O’Neal (aka James O. Born) - The Human Disguise
2010 Gerald Posner - Miami Babylon Crime, Wealth and Power—A Dispatch From the Beach
2010 James Rollins - Altar of Eden
2010 Rakesh Satyal - Blue Boy
2010 Mark Seal - Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa
2010 Dani Shapiro - Devotion
2010 Doug Stanton - Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan
2010 Elaine Viets - Killer Cuts
2010 Neil White - In the Sanctuary of Outcasts
2010 Jarrett J. Krosoczka - Lunch Lady (graphic novel series)
2009 Annie Barrows - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
2009 Louis Bayard - The Black Tower
2009 Rick Bragg - The Prince of Frogtown
2009 Alafair Burke - Angel’s Tip
2009 Marisa de los Santos - Belong to Me
2009 David Ebershoff - The 19th Wife
2009 Hallie Ephron - Never Tell a Lie
2009 Diane Hammond - Hannah’s Dream
2009 Julia Whorf Kelly - Feast or Famine: Growing Up Bohemian in Provincetown
2009 Lily Koppel - The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal
2009 Christopher (Kit) Lukas - Blue Genes: A Memoir of Loss and Survival
2009 Debbie Macomber - Twenty Wishes
2009 Diane McKinney-Whetstone - Trading Dreams at Midnight
2009 DeLauné Michel - The Safety of Secrets
2009 Janis Owens - Cracker Kitchen
2009 James Reese - The Dracula Dossier
2009 Patricia Schultz - 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die
2009 Deborah Sharp - Mama Does Time
2009 Karin Slaughter - Fractured
2009 Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain
2009 James Swain - The Night Stalker
2009 Dr. Nick Trout - Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon
2009 Lisa Unger - Black Out
2009 Marianne Berkes - Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme
2009 Jan Day - Kissimmee Pete and the Hurricane
2009 Donna Gephart - As If Being 12 ¾ Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President!
2009 Janeen Mason - Ocean Commotion: Sea Turtles!
2009 Riley Roam - The Great Pizza Contest
2008 Sarah Addison Allen - Garden Spells
2008 Steve Alten - The Shell Game
2008 Jay Barbree - “Live from Cape Canaveral”: Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today
2008 Leslie Baumann, M.D. - The Skin Type Solution
2008 William Bernhardt - Strip Search
2008 Amy Bloom - Away
2008 Dale Brown - Strike Force
2008 Mary Jane Clark - When Day Breaks
2008 Brock Clarke - The Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England
2008 Suzy Cohen, R.Ph. - The 24-Hour Pharmacist: Advice, Options, and Amazing Cures from America’s Most Trusted Pharmacist
2008 Frank Delaney - Tipperary
2008 Timothy Hallinan - A Nail Through the Heart
2008 Ted Kerasote - Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog
2008 Charles London - One Day the Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War
2008 Kim Ponders - The Last Blue Mile
2008 Kris Radish - The Sunday List of Dreams
2008 Luanne Rice - Light of the Moon
2008 Carolyn See - There Will Never Be Another You
2008 Lisa See - Peony in Love
2008 Rob Sheffield - Love Is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time
2008 Michael C. White - Soul Catcher
2007 Manny Alvarez, M.D. - The Checklist: What You and Your Family Need to Know to Prevent Disease and Live a Long and Healthy Life
2007 Gail Caldwell - A Strong West Wind
2007 Lynne Cox - Grayson
2007 Kim Edwards - The Memory Keeper's Daughter
2007 Nathaniel C. Fick - One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer
2007 Whitney Gaskell - Testing Kate
2007 Tess Gerritsen - The Mephisto Club
2007 Uzodinma Iweala - Beasts of No Nation
2007 J. A. Jance - Web of Evil
2007 Sujata Massey - Girl in a Box
2007 Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D. - For the Love of a Dog: Understanding Emotion in You and Your Best Friend
2007 Candice Millard - The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey
2007 Sy Montgomery - The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood
2007 Katherine Hall Page - The Body in the Ivy: A Faith Fairchild Mystery
2007 P. J. Parrish - An Unquiet Grave (sister writing team: Kristy Montee/Florida and Kelly Montee/Tennessee)
2007 Jonathan D. Pond - You Can Do It!: The Boomer's Guide to a Great Retirement
2007 Sheri Reynolds - Firefly Cloak
2007 Jeff Shaara - The Rising Tide: A Novel of the Second World War
2007 Hampton Sides - Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West
2007 Lisa Unger - Sliver of Truth
2006 Joseph Boyden - Three Day Road
2006 Susan Casey - The Devil's Teeth
2006 Frank Cerabino - Shady Palms I, II, III; Pelican Park: A Tale of Romance, Lies and Surging Home Prices
2006 Maureen Corrigan - Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books
2006 Deborah Crombie - In a Dark House
2006 Katherine Eban - Dangerous Doses
2006 Carlos Eire - Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
2006 Scott Eyman - Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer
2006 Connie May Fowler - The Problem with Murmur Lee
2006 Steven Frey - The Protege
2006 John Grogan - Marley & Me: Life and Love With the World’s Worst Dog
2006 Jilliane Hoffman - Last Witness
2006 Gregg Hurwitz - Troubleshooter
2006 River Jordan - The Messenger of Magnolia Street
2006 N.M. Kelby - Whale Season
2006 Elizabeth Kostova - The Historian
2006 Michele Martinez - The Finishing School
2006 Steven Masley, M.D. - Ten Years Younger: The Amazing Ten-Week Plan to Look Better, Feel Better, and Turn Back the Clock
2006 Brad Meltzer - Identity Crisis
2006 J.R. Moehringer - The Tender Bar
2006 Steven Pratt M.D. - SuperFoods HealthStyle: Proven Strategies for Lifelong Health
2006 Jeanne Ray - Julie and Romeo Get Lucky
2006 Joe Scarborough - Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day: The Real Deal on How Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Other Washington Barbarians Are Bankrupting America
2006 Lisa See - Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
2006 Thrity Umrigar - The Space Between Us
2006 Koren Zailckas - Smashed: The Story of a Drunken Girlhood
2005 Steve Berry - The Romanov Prophecy
2005 James O. Born - Walking Money
2005 Ed Conlon - Blue Blood
2005 Tim Dorsey - Torpedo Juice
2005 Patricia Gaffney - The Goodbye Summer
2005 Andrew Sean Greer - The Confessions of Max Tivoli
2005 Rushworth M. Kidder - Moral Courage
2005 Cassandra King - The Same Sweet Girls: A Novel
2005 Jonathon King - Shadow Men
2005 Robert Kurson - Shadow Divers: The True Adventure of Two Americans Who Risked Everything to Solve One of the Last Mysteries of World War II
2005 David Liss - A Spectacle of Corruption
2005 Diane Scullion Littler and Mark Masterson Littler - Waterways & Byways of the Indian River Lagoon
2005 Sujata Massey - The Pearl Diver
2005 Bob Morris - Bahamarama
2005 Janis Owens - The Schooling of Claybird Catts
2005 T. Jefferson Parker - California Girl
2005 Kelly Reynolds - Henry Plant-Live! (performance)
2005 Arnold Scaasi - Women I Have Dressed (and Undressed!)
2005 Barry Sears - The Anti-Inflammation Zone: Reversing the Silent Epidemic That’s Destroying Our Health
2005 Nancy Thayer - The Hot Flash Club Strikes Again
2005 Sandra Thurlow - Historic Jensen and Eden on Florida’s Indian River
2005 Adriana Trigiani - The Queen of the Big Time and Cooking with My Sisters: One Hundred Years of Family Recipes, from Bari to Big Stone Gap
2004 Howard Blum - The Eve of Destruction: The Untold Story of the Yom Kippur War
2004 Chris Bohjalian - Idyll Banter: Weekly Excursions to a Very Small Town
2004 Debra J. Dickerson - The End of Blackness: Returning the Souls of Black Folk to Their Rightful Owners
2004 Peter Duffy - The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Saved 1,200 Jews, and Built a Village in the Forest
2004 Leif Enger - Peace Like a River
2004 Joy Fielding - Lost
2004 Lisa Gardner - The Killing Hour
2004 James W. Hall - Off the Chart
2004 Laura Lippman - Every Secret Thing
2004 Yann Martel - Life of Pi
2004 Sena Jeter Naslund - Four Spirits
2004 Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler’s Wife
2004 Kathy Reichs - Bare Bones
2004 Peter Salgo - The Heart of the Matter: A Revolutionary Program for Preventing Coronary Heart Disease
2004 Karin Slaughter - A Faint Cold Fear
2004 James Swain - Sucker Bet
2004 Anthony Swofford – Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
2004 Stuart Woods - Capital Crimes
2003 Richard Bausch - Hello to the Cannibals
2003 Jill Bialosky - House Under Snow
2003 Edna Buchanan - The Ice Maiden
2003 Frank Cerabino - Shady Palms 3: Viagra Falls
2003 S.V. Daté - Black Sunshine
2003 Loraine Despres - The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc
2003 Carolina Garcia-Aguilera - One Hot Summer
2003 James Grippando - Beyond Suspicion
2003 Adam Haslett - You Are Not a Stranger Here
2003 Stephen Horn - Law of Gravity
2003 Cynthia Kaplan - Why I'm Like This: True Stories
2003 Christine Kling - Surface Tension
2003 Elmore Leonard - When the Women Come Out to Dance
2003 Gary Monroe - The Highwaymen: Florida's African-American Landscape Painters
2003 Nicholas Perricone - The Perricone Prescription: A Physician's 28-Day Program for Total Body and Face Rejuvenation
2003 Trisha Posner - No Hormones, No Fear: A Natural Journey through Menopause
2003 Bob Smith - Hamlet's Dresser: A Memoir
2003 Les Standiford - Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad That Crossed the Ocean
2003 Virginia Swift - Bad Company
2003 Tim Zimmermann - The Race: The First Non-Stop, Round the World, No-Holds-Barred Sailing Competition
2002 Mary K. Andrews - Savannah Blues
2002 A. Mannete Ansay - Limbo: A Memoir
2002 Howard Blum - The Brigade: An Epic Story of Vengeance, Salvation and World War II
2002 Rita Ciresi - Sometimes I Dream in Italian
2002 Jan Day author/Janeen Mason illustrator - The Pirate Pink
2002 Connie May Fowler - When Katie Wakes
2002 Neil Gaiman - American Gods
2002 Michael V. Gannon - Pearl Harbor Betrayed
2002 Eileen Goudge (appearing with husband Sandy Kenyon) - Stranger in Paradise
2002 Kelly James - Dancing With the Witchdoctor
2002 Dennis Lehane - Mystic River
2002 John Marchese - Renovations
2002 Phillip Margolin - The Associate
2002 Regina McBride - The Nature of Water and Air
2002 Peter Robinson - Aftermath
2002 Heather Sellers - Georgia Under Water
2002 Sarah Stonich - These Granite Islands
2002 Darin Strauss - Chang and Eng
2002 Sandra Thurlow - Stuart on the St. Lucie
2002 Alex Witchel - Me Times Three
2001 Ace Atkins - Leavin' Trunk Blues
2001 Karen E. Bender - Like Normal People
2001 Mary Jane Clark - Let Me Whisper in Your Ear
2001 Carmen Agra Deedy - The Library Dragon
2001 Debra J. Dickerson - An American Story
2001 Tim Dorsey - Hammerhead Ranch Motel
2001 Naomi Eve - The Family Orchard
2001 Beth Gutcheon - More Than You Know
2001 Sheri Holman - The Dress Lodger
2001 Laura Lippman - The Sugar House
2001 Susan Loesser - A Most Remarkable Fella: Frank Loesser and the Guys and Dolls in His Life
2001 Malachy McCourt - Singing My Hymn Song
2001 Janis Owens - My Brother Michael
2001 Barbara Parker - Suspicion of Malice
2001 James Patterson - Roses Are Red
2001 John Sedgwick - The Dark House
2001 Alan Watt - Diamond Dogs
2001 Randy Wayne White - Ten Thousand Islands
2000 Ace Atkins - Crossroad Blues
2000 Elizabeth Berg - Until the Real Thing Comes Along
2000 Amy Bloom - Come to Me
2000 Barbara Bottner - Nana Hanna's Piano
2000 R. Scott Brunner - Due South: Dispatches for Down Home
2000 Mary Jane Clark - Do You Promise Not to Tell?
2000 Tim Dorsey - Florida RoadKill
2000 Lawrence and Nancy Goldston - Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore
2000 Jane Hamilton - Map of the World
2000 Stuart M. Kaminsky - Vengeance
2000 Peter Post - The Etiquette Advantage in Business
2000 Colby F. Rodowsky - The Turnabout Shop
2000 Linda Shute - Rabbit Wishes
2000 Ming Tsai - East Meets West with Ming Tsai
2000 Mary Alice Williams - Quiet Triumphs
1999 Lawrence Block - Everybody Dies
1999 Mary Jane Clark - Do You Want to Know a Secret?
1999 Beverly Coyle - Taken In
1999 C.S. Godshalk - Kalimantaan
1999 Jerry B. Jenkins - Left Behind
1999 Eric A. Kimmel - Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins
1999 Margaret Maron - Home Fires
1999 Cokie Roberts - We Are Our Mother's Daughters
1999 Patrick D. Smith - Forever Island
1999 Patricia Sprinkle - But Why Did We Shoot the Magistrate?
1998 Nancy Allen - Fair Seafarer
1998 Rick Bragg - All Over But the Shoutin'
1998 Susan Butler - East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart
1998 Nora DeLoach - Mama Stalks the Past
1998 Tomie dePaola - Strega Nona
1998 Michael V. Gannon - Operation Drumbeat
1998 Carolina Garcia-Aguilera - Bloody Shame
1998 David A. Kaufelt - The Ruthless Realtor Murders
1998 Dori Sanders - Clover and Dori Sanders Country Cooking
1998 Patricia Sprinkle - When Did We Lose Harriet?
1998 Clifton L. Taulbert - When We Were Colored
1998 Stuart Woods - Dead in the Water
1997 Lois Battle - Bed and Breakfast
1997 John Cech - The Southernmost Cat
1997 Michael D'Orso - Like Judgment Day: The Ruin and Redemption of a Town Called Rosewood
1997 John Dufresne - Love Warps the Mind a Little
1997 Michael Grant - Retribution
1997 James Grippando - The Informant
1997 David Hagberg - Kilo Option
1997 James W. Hall - Red Sky at Night
1997 James Neal Harvey - Mental Case
1997 Jane Heller - Princess Charming
1997 Joyce LaFray - Cuba Cocina
1997 Kevin McCarthy - Book Lovers Guide to Florida
1997 Barbara Parker - Blood Relations
1997 Roberta Sandler - Guide to Florida Historical Walking Tours
1997 Les Standiford - Deal on Ice
1996 Mary Barrett Brown - Joshua and the Big Bad Blue Crabs
1996 John Cech - The Southernmost Cat
1996 John Dufresne - The Way Water Enters Stone
1996 Michael V. Gannon - Secret Missions
1996 Heather Graham - Runaway
1996 Michael Grant - Retribution
1996 James W. Hall - Gone Wild
1996 Jane Heller - Infernal Affairs
1996 Rob MacGregor - Prophecy Rock
1996 T.J. MacGregor - Mistress of the Bones
1996 Barbara Parker - Suspicion of Guilt
1996 Nancy Pickard - Twilight
1996 Harry Schwartz - Easygoing Entertaining
1996 Bob Shacochis - Easy in the Islands
1996 Laurence Shames - Tropical Depression
1996 Linda Shute - Clever Tom and the Leprechaun
1996 Les Standiford - Deal to Die For
1996 Kathy Hogan Trocheck - Lickety Split
1995 Loren G. "Totch" Brown - Totch: a Life in the Everglades
1995 Charles W. Cherry II - Excellence Without Excuse
1995 John Dufresne - Louisiana Power & Light
1995 Connie May Fowler - Florida Humanities Essay: Making Florida Home
1995 Michael Grant - Officer Down
1995 James Neal Harvey - Flesh and Blood
1995 Jane Heller - Cha, Cha, Cha
1995 John Holman - Florida Humanities Essay: Making Florida Home
1995 John Jakes - Homeland
1995 David Kaufelt - The Winter Women Murders
1995 Robert Lacey - Grace
1995 Paul Levine - To Speak for the Dead
1995 T.J. MacGregor - Blue Pearl
1995 Padgett Powell - Florida Humanities Essay: Making Florida Home
1995 Lucia St. Clair Robson - Light a Distant Fire
1995 Laurence Shames - Sunburn
1995 Enid Shomer - Florida Humanities Essay: Making Florida Home
1995 Patrick D. Smith - Florida, A Land Remembered
Martin County’s Artificial Reef Program began in the 1970s, when a group of retirees and sport fishing enthusiasts led by Bill Donaldson – calling themselves the “Reeftirees,” began a movement to create self-sustaining marine habitats.
With numerous thriving natural and artificial reefs along Martin County’s shores, the area truly lives up to its reputation as the “Treasure Coast.”
Each reef offers a bounty of rich aquatic life, creating ideal locales for saltwater anglers and recreational divers.
Offshore, the prevailing north current allows boaters to begin at the southern end of these sites and drift north across a two-mile stretch of diverse reef environments.
The offshore reefs are located within the Donaldson, Ernst, Sirotkin and South County Reef Sites. Each of these four permitted areas contain several artificial reefs which have been deployed over the years. Additional reef materials continue to be added to these areas.
The Martin County Utilities and Solid Waste Department works with the Martin County Artificial Reef Program to secure materials of opportunity by allowing contractors to dispose of clean concrete free of charge and storing the material for the program.
This material of opportunity greatly reduces the cost of creating reefs and redirects the material to a beneficial use rather than to a landfill. Deployments include the Hailey Glasrud Reef (a steel vessel) in the Sirotkin and concrete rubble reefs in the Donaldson.
Martin County’s nearshore reef sites are located between the Stuart and Jensen Public Beaches. These three artificial reef sites were established in 2000, in order to provide mitigation for potential impacts to the nearshore reefs from the Hutchinson Island Beach Renourishment Project.
The material used for the nearshore reefs was the concrete debris from the removal of the Evans Crary Bridge, which was replaced with a high-rise bridge crossing the St. Lucie River between Stuart and Sewalls Point.
This material consisted of concrete bridge pieces, predominantly pilings, with some deck span pieces.
To date, dozens of artificial reefs have been deployed. They are monitored annually for marine activity and structural status by the Florida Oceanographic Society Research Dive Team.
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission has been a valuable partner in underwriting this monitoring, and in providing grants that fund other important coastal public works artificial reef construction projects.
A recent addition is the Reef Ball Program, which is coordinated through the Martin County Environmental Studies Center of the Martin County School District. Each year, students construct “reef balls,” which are then deployed in the St. Lucie River to create habitats for fish and underwater organisms.
This unique learning experience broadens their understanding of our aquatic ecology while creating new environments that foster marine life.
Martin County’s Artificial Reef Program offers over 100 outstanding sites for fishing and dive exploration – and the number continues to grow.
There is no better way to appreciate our area’s natural treasures than to fish and explore these waters!
When most people think about natural reefs in Florida, they think of the Florida Keys. In actuality, the Southeast Florida Reef Tract extends from the Dry Tortugas to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County, is home to the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States and is the world’s third-largest coral reef system, measuring 105 miles.
The northern extent of the Southeast Florida Reef Tract is fairly unique, in part because it exists where temperate and tropical climates overlap. It is characterized by wormrock, hard corals, algaes, and numerous fish species of commercial and recreational importance.
As compared to its neighbors to the south, Martin County has a lower diversity and density of stony corals and deep-water corals as well as different fish species, a mix of temperate and tropical species.
Unlike in other areas, the stony corals found in Martin County typically do not reach significant height. The one species that does grow tall, Oculina varicosa, unfortunately, is more susceptible to being impacted by fishing gear. One unique, although not positive, feature of the County’s stony corals is that through many years of monitoring there has never been an indication of reproduction.
Although the reefs in Martin County exist throughout the southern portion of the County, St. Lucie Reef is the most well documented. It is 4.5 miles long and home to:
Due to its proximity to the Inlet, however, the St. Lucie Reef is affected by the freshwater exiting the inlet. This freshwater comes from multiple locations, including the St. Lucie River, Indian River Lagoon, and Lake Okeechobee drainage canals (C-23, C-24, C-44).
We are aware of the extreme stress Florida’s coral reefs are facing, and that their weakened state has allowed a very concerning disease outbreak to occur. We are lucky to have highly qualified scientists and world renowned coral reef research institutions in our region to help address this issue.
This meeting of the US Coral Reef Task Force could not come at a better time to bring together the leaders in coral reef strategies, partnerships and on-the-ground action to conserve coral reefs and shine a light on our local issue.
The State of Florida has also stepped forward with $1 million in funding to advance coral reef science and better understand this destructive coral reef disease.
Locally, the five southeastern Florida counties (Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Martin) benefiting from coral reefs along their shore have banded together in programs like the “Coral Reef Ambassadors” which provides actions that each individual – resident or tourist – can take to safeguard our precious resource.
Behind the scenes, the five counties have staff and elected officials constantly focused on opportunities to leverage funds and move programs forward.
Marine debris is anything man-made and discarded that enters the marine environment. Most trash comes from land-based sources. Trash on the ground may be swept into inland waterways by rain and wind, where it will then make its way into the ocean through rivers and streams. Trash left on beaches is also a culprit.
Debris can spread diseases, invasive species, become navigational hazards, endanger human health, and harm wildlife. For example, sea turtles mistake plastic for the jellyfish they feed on, and ingest it.
Information about how to obtain a film permit in Martin County.
