Dates we visited: Apr 27th 2021
Where we stayed: Miami Everglades RV Resort

Biscayne National Park is located on the Atlantic side of the Florida peninsula, just a short hop away from the Everglades. Kristy booked us a great campground with lots of amenities (like a nice pool to cool off in), where we were able to easily get to both Everglades and Biscayne.

Biscayne is 95% underwater, and is best seen from on, or in, the water, so there wasn’t much in the way of hiking for us on this excursion. We opted for a socially distanced pontoon boat tour across the bay and out to several of the nearby keys (islands).

On the water

There are a number of tours and excursions available at Biscayne, from scuba to paddleboarding to boat rides. We opted for the “Heritage of Biscayne” boat tour offered by the Biscayne National Park Institute.

This was a half day tour that departs from the mainland, cuts across the bay, and passes several of the keys before stopping at one of the islands for exploration / lunch. The boat ride across the bay is speedy by pontoon boat measures, and Owen took great delight in feeling the sea mist hit his face.

Throughout the journey our guide shared several interesting stories about the history of the area before it became a National Park. There were attempts to commercially develop the beach, bay and islands multiple times before the area was reserved as a national park in 1968. It was interesting to learn about the handful of people who succeeded in fighting to preserve the ecosystem, especially folks like the Jones Family.

Boca Chita Key

The key that the tour stops at depends on daily conditions. We were lucky enough to enjoy our lunch in the shadow of the "lighthouse” on Boca Chita Key.

Boca Chita was once privately owned by Mark Honeywell. Yes the Honeywell of thermostat fame. Apparently, he used the island to host exorbitantly grandiose parties. As the story goes, he started constructing a lighthouse on the island in 1938. When the coast guard caught wind of this they came over to check it out. Then told him, hey, not only are you not allowed to build a lighthouse without our authorization, but you put it on the wrong side of the island, it won’t work to warn ships away. His response was something to the effect of, that’s fine because my intent was to light it up when I throw parties to help my attendees find their way here. The Coast Guard’s retort was, yeah…no…you can build it if you want, but you can never light it up. So that’s what he did.

In addition to its storied history, apparently this island is also a weekend hotspot for local yacht owners to hang out. Unfortunately, for one reason or another, there was a fair amount of trash on the island. There are intentionally no trash cans on the island, as visitors are expected to pack out their own trash. One of the values we try to instill in Owen is to “leave it better than you found it”, and as such we often carry a few small trash bags with us to pick up any litter we come across in the parks. But on that day, we found ourselves without any spare bags in a place that could have really benefited from a little clean up. Nevertheless, the island was still beautiful and we enjoyed a quiet and peaceful lunch right next to the famed lighthouse before the return trip back to the mainland.

Biscayne National Park has a ton to offer ocean enthusiasts, and we loved our voyage through the park. If we get the chance to return here in the future, it would be fun to spend some time snorkeling, checking out the reefs, or exploring more of the islands within the park.