Between Storms - Ponce Inlet Jetty Walk

In August 2025, I stood at the edge of the Ponce Inlet jetty and photographed this rebuilt wooden walkway — not knowing it would be gone within weeks. Hurricane Milton had destroyed the original structure the previous October. Volusia County rebuilt it just in time for Memorial Day 2025. By September, Hurricane Imelda had closed it again. A fierce fall nor’easter finished the job entirely, washing the wooden connector out to sea.

This painting captures that brief, luminous interval between storms.

As painters do, I interpreted the scene rather than documenting it — the walkway here is my impression of that moment, not an architectural record. But the feeling of it? That I hope is exactly right.

The warm honey tones of the rebuilt railing lead the eye out toward the inlet’s famously vivid teal water, while the Ponce Inlet lifeguard tower stands watch against a dramatic, cloud-swept Florida sky. The jetty rocks below anchor it all in the rugged permanence the sea never quite manages to wash away.

Between Storms is number eight in my Ten 

Florida Moments series — ten small original oil paintings celebrating the places, light, and living history of Florida’s Atlantic coast.