I'm no expert here, but I would say to apply some mulch the the areas of exposed roots and outward from the base of the palm. This could be a completely normal thing for a coconut to do though. Wait for some other responses though. This board tends to be more active amongst experimental gardeners. If nobody here can help, I would suggest the International Palm Society's Palmtalk message board. That is mostly gardeners from tropical locales. My inlaws used to live in Jupiter for 15 years, great place, enjoy. You can always go to a local garden center and ask someone there as well. Also there is a small botanical garden in West Palm Beach called Mount's Botanical Garden that sells dirt cheap plants every Tuesday. If you get the gardening bug, it's a great source for some great plants. Then again, your local nurseries also have great prices for some big stuff.

Maybe what he was referring to is a Canary Island Date? I've heard those called pineapple palms before because of the way the trunks and boots are pruned to look like a giant pineapple. As long as he knows pineapples don't come from palms...

I know of a coconut in St. Augustine. Isn't Citrus county where a lot of manatee go for the winter? On the west coast of Fl.? Sure sounds good right now, coconuts or not!

The reason the leaves are not like those shown on Wikipedia is that your coconut palm is a seedling (very young plant). I've never kept one myself but understand they are quite difficult to look after indoors because they need high humidity (i.e. moist air) and warm temperatures. Give it a sunny position and only water when the soil has dried out (it's very easy to kill potted palms by too much watering - the roots just rot). Try to mist it regularly, or find some other way of increasing the humidity. It's definitely an indoor plant. It might even need supplementary warmth to get it through the winter. Also watch out for leaf pests, such as red spider mite. Good luck!