From a six decade LW resident...

The Snook Islands Natural Area was a great place to go until the citizens of Lake Worth were run out of there by vagrants with bad attitudes. It is rapidly becoming a no-go zone. The boardwalk and observation deck is beautiful but can rarely be used for its intended purpose anymore. Sad.

The first pic was taken shortly after Snook Islands opened and the vagrant pic was taken last year when the problem was just starting to develop. I rarely take my expensive Nikon gear there anymore for obvious reasons.

 I have encountered vagrants on the observation deck many times since then. Last week I went to see how the mangroves were taking root on the new island by the deck and there were two vagrants sleeping on the deck and I startled them and they weren’t very happy about it. A couple months ago I went there to check on the islands progress and there was a vagrant sleeping on the deck. A young woman and her two children were walking down the boardwalk, spotted the vagrant and quickly shooed her kids away in the other direction. Over by the kayak launch we discussed the vagrant problem and she said this would be her last visit to Snook Islands because she had encountered surly vagrants before. I talked to a deputy afterward about the growing problem. He just shrugged it off and gave me the impression that he thought they weren’t a problem. My longtime Lake Worth friend was standing with us and when the deputy walked away. We kinda laughed and reminisced about how problems like that used to be handled back in the sixties and seventies. Back then the LWPD would put them in a car and give them a free ride to the West Palm Beach or Lantana boarder (whichever was closest) and drop them off.

I rarely launch my kayak from there anymore. It’s almost as easy to just go up Flagler drive to Southern Blvd and launch from the Palm Beach side of the bridge. Funny how Palm Beach doesn’t have scary people hanging around public facilities. If I were to do a photo documentation of the problem with dates and times on a regular basis (I’m retired and have the time) would it be of value to anyone? I’ll be happy to do that if it helps.