Plan your visit:
95% of the park is covered by water, so being on - or in - the water is the best way to experience the park.
The Biscayne National Park Institute provides half and full day eco-adventures in the park including snorkeling at a shipwreck on the Maritime Heritage Trail and colorful coral reefs full of life, cruises to Boca Chita Key and lighthouse, sailing on beautiful Biscayne Bay, exploring the seldom seen wonders of Jones Lagoon, and more.
Access to the park from the mainland is limited to the immediate vicinity of the Dante Fascell Visitor Center at Convoy Point. All other portions of the park are reachable only by private or concessioner boats. Activities include boating, fishing, Kayaking, windsurfing, snorkeling, and scuba diving.
Resources:
NPS website: https://nps.gov/bisc/index.htm
Wikipedia
Biscayne National Park
State: Florida
Most known for:
Within sight of Miami, yet worlds away, Biscayne protects a rare combination of aquamarine waters, emerald islands, and fish-bejeweled coral reefs. Evidence of 10,000 years of human history is here too; from prehistoric tribes to shipwrecks, and pineapple farmers to presidents.
Basic Info:
The park covers 172,971 acres and includes Elliott Key, the park’s largest island and northernmost of the true Florida Keys, formed from fossil coral reef. The park received Biscayne National Monument designation in 1968. The preserved area was expanded by its 1980 re-designation as Biscayne National Park.
The park protects 4 distinct ecosystems:
mangrove swamp
shallow waters of Biscayne Bay
coral limestone keys
offshore Florida Reef, one of the largest coral reefs in the world
Our Visit
Date: March 4, 2024
We booked a 3.5 hour Boca Chita Key Heritage Cruise from Coconut Grove for Monday morning, 9:15AM - 12:45PM, run by Biscayne National Park Insitute, a nonprofit organization and official touring services partner of the national park.
https://www.biscaynenationalparkinstitute.org/island-experiences/boca-chita-key-heritage-cruise
Onboard
The doc is Dinner Key Marina at Coconut Grove. We received very detailed instruction on parking and location of the boarding doc prior. We run about 5 minutes late that morning for our lack of knowledge of Miami rush hour traffic. When we called the cruise team when we were stuck in traffic, the associate was very patient and remind us to fill out the waiver before we got there. Once we boarded, after our captain Stephan went through the safety rules, our cruise started. There was also a biologist Jenna on the boat so while we moving out of the cove, she gave us some great info about the ecosystem and history of the park.
The first sights was the skyline of Miami. We had an overcasted morning, so no harsh sunlight and the scene looks very nice. Then we soon passed by the Bill Baggs Cape State Park and had a nice view of the white lighthouse on the tip of the park’s tip. Jenna reminded us that they run sunset cruise as well. I think the view of the sunset golden hour would be fantastic.
Stiltsville
About one mile in, several structures floating on the ocean came to our sight when we got closer. These are six historic Stiltsville Houses that used to be playground for the wealthy. Jenna talked about her experiences of visiting these with family in the weekend when she was a child. First shack was built on stilts above the water in 1933 allegedly to facilitate gambling in prohibition era. More shacks were built later on and were used as social clubs. This area went through rounds and rounds of hurricane damage and rebuilt, and even had its own mayors back then. Stiltsville’s frontier era ended when the state of Florida’s building codes change in 1965. In June 1980, Congress expanded the Biscayne National Park boundaries bringing the area containing Stiltsville within the park. After Hurricane Andrew struck Stiltsville in 1992, 14 “campsites” dropped to only seven. In 2003, a non-profit organization called Stiltsville Trust was established to raise fund and to preserve and rehabilitate. the structure to help showcase the park’s marine resources with support for education and interpretive services.
Biscayne National Park Institute offers a 2-hour Stiltsville Guided Tour 12:30 - 3:00PM Thursday - Sunday https://www.biscaynenationalparkinstitute.org/stiltsville-guided-tour-from-coconut-grove/. Some of the houses became popular for some snorkelers and bird watchers.
Boca Chita Key
Before we reach Boca Chita Key, we had a very good biology field trip on our way to the island. Right passed Stiltsville, the captain slowed the boat so that we can check out the sponges underwater in the format of white rounded shape with a dark heart. Sponges are an irreplaceable component of a delicate marine ecosystem as they filter water, and their porous bodies provide habitats for smaller organisms such as juvenile fish and crabs. When we got closer to Baco Chita Key, we started seeing sea star in orange bright color, colorful tropical fishes, then surprisingly several sting rays, the sight of which even excited Jenna as she claimed that it has been rare to identify them even for her.
Boca Chita Key used to be owned by Mark Honeywell, and was used as a social club for the industrialists back in 1940s. In 1985 the island was added to Biscayne National Park. The most famous structures on the island are the ornamental lighthouse and the coral rock structures. The boat parked at the harbor and give us half hour to tour the island on our own. It has restrooms but no drinkable water supply. We walked cut cross to the opposite side of the harbor, and had a beautiful view of the mangrove trees and some ocean birds. After hiked north shoreline of the island, we also hiked half section of the natural trail on the west side.
This is our last stop of the cruise. We had a nonstop ride back to the dock after visiting this island.
By far, we only covered a small portion of the park in the north. Other fun activities you can plan if you have more time could be paddle board in the mangrove between and around some islands, snorkeling or scuba diving in coral reef, and visit historic side of ship wrecks.
NPS Map of Boca Chita Key
