| In 1961 America came within thirteen seconds of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It was called the Cuban Missile Crisis. There is an undersea tunnel that connects ritzy, old money Palm Beach, Florida to a little known island named Peanut. It's called Peanut because Palm Beach Inlet sand dredgings were dumped there, and in 1913, people thought it would be a good place to unload peanut oil from boats. It sits smack in the middle of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway, and the incoming tides from the blue waters of the Gulf Stream’s Sailfish Alley bring an abundance of sea life. Divers and snorkelers never know what might sneak up on them as they |
spy along its engineered breakers. Sharks, tarpon, giant barracuda, or the dreaded Portuguese Man O’ War, lying
on its back and extending its poisonous tentacles toward the surface to stun unsuspecting prey.In December a 12-
year-old boy broke the state record when he caught a 500-pound bull shark just two miles past the inlet and in sight
of the man-made island’s easternmost tip. Such is the environment surrounding Peanut Island's shallow shoreline.
Back in the 1940’s, Joseph Kennedy, bootlegger and statesman, built his clan a summer playground on the white
sandy beaches facing the turquoise blue Atlantic waters so that his growing brood of athletic children could escape
the ice cold winters of Boston. Joe Jr., Jack, Bobby, and Ted swam in the Intracoastal, fishing and sailing its tropical
waters as their father molded them into America’s leaders.
Jack, of course, eventually achieved his father’s realizations. John F. Kennedy rose to power when the world was
reorganizing itself after World War II, but this young president would have his own war, a strange bullet-less
battlefield known as the Cold War.
JFK's head filled up with the horrors of imminent nuclear war and first strike, knowing his childhood retreat was within
striking distance from nearby Cuba where the Soviets had positioned nuclear warheads. Almost one year to the day
before the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK ordered a 7-foot-thick lead, steel, and concrete bunker 27 feet in the ground,
built a few miles from his family’s Florida compound. The bunker was built in seven days and was designed to shield
from the fallout of a five-megaton atomic bomb. The bunker had provisions and space for 30 people, and a secret
tunnel from Palm Beach under the inlet, complete with a motorized trolley.
Today Peanut Island is undergoing a metamorphosis from a former Coast Guard installation and dumping grounds to
a major South Florida island getaway. People can only get there by private boat or launches running from
surrounding marinas in the Intracoastal. It is being billed as a Bahamas island just 10 minutes from Palm Beach.
I spent the better part of two days on Peanut, I snorkeling and exploring its tropical wilderness. The center of the
island is built up and surrounded by a black fence. The tourists and weekends are relegated to its expertly
landscaped walkways and white sandy beaches.
on its back and extending its poisonous tentacles toward the surface to stun unsuspecting prey.In December a 12-
year-old boy broke the state record when he caught a 500-pound bull shark just two miles past the inlet and in sight
of the man-made island’s easternmost tip. Such is the environment surrounding Peanut Island's shallow shoreline.
Back in the 1940’s, Joseph Kennedy, bootlegger and statesman, built his clan a summer playground on the white
sandy beaches facing the turquoise blue Atlantic waters so that his growing brood of athletic children could escape
the ice cold winters of Boston. Joe Jr., Jack, Bobby, and Ted swam in the Intracoastal, fishing and sailing its tropical
waters as their father molded them into America’s leaders.
Jack, of course, eventually achieved his father’s realizations. John F. Kennedy rose to power when the world was
reorganizing itself after World War II, but this young president would have his own war, a strange bullet-less
battlefield known as the Cold War.
JFK's head filled up with the horrors of imminent nuclear war and first strike, knowing his childhood retreat was within
striking distance from nearby Cuba where the Soviets had positioned nuclear warheads. Almost one year to the day
before the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK ordered a 7-foot-thick lead, steel, and concrete bunker 27 feet in the ground,
built a few miles from his family’s Florida compound. The bunker was built in seven days and was designed to shield
from the fallout of a five-megaton atomic bomb. The bunker had provisions and space for 30 people, and a secret
tunnel from Palm Beach under the inlet, complete with a motorized trolley.
Today Peanut Island is undergoing a metamorphosis from a former Coast Guard installation and dumping grounds to
a major South Florida island getaway. People can only get there by private boat or launches running from
surrounding marinas in the Intracoastal. It is being billed as a Bahamas island just 10 minutes from Palm Beach.
I spent the better part of two days on Peanut, I snorkeling and exploring its tropical wilderness. The center of the
island is built up and surrounded by a black fence. The tourists and weekends are relegated to its expertly
landscaped walkways and white sandy beaches.
| JFK's Bunker |
by Michael Domino
Copyright © 2007, 2008 by Michael Domino
| Short Stories Page 1 2 |
Denis Proulx / Shangri-La Studio
Peanut Island, Florida