Biscayne

From Wikipedia – Located in Biscayne Bay, this park at the north end of the Florida Keys has four interrelated marine ecosystems: mangrove forest, the Bay, the Keys, and coral reefs. Threatened animals include the West Indian manatee, American crocodile, various sea turtles, and peregrine falcon.

Established: 6/28/1980
Annual Visitors: 469,253
Size: 172,971 acres

Approaching Boca Chita Key by boat
The original cistern for storing fresh water. There is no natural fresh water source on the island.
The view of the Atlantic from the lighthouse.
The garage where Honeywell would store his cars. There is no road access. He would bring the cars out by boat, just to have them there.

Biscayne National Park Dec 17, 2019

Elizabeth:

After leaving Key West in a rental car we picked up at the Key West airport on the morning of Dec 17, 2019, Sherry, Gary and I drove up the Keys heading for Homestead, FL. The GPS is so funny to look at as the arrow is traveling through nothing but blue screen. It’s a roughly 125 mile drive mostly on man made soil and coral fill to make the road slightly higher than the one-way in, one-way out of Key West. We traversed 42 bridges in between our long stretches of “land” close enough to almost touch the ocean on either side.

Our rental car’s GPS driving from Key West up to Biscayne…water, water, water!

The view of Boca Chita Key from the lighthouse

We stopped in Marathon to eat at a local café Sherry found on line. Great choice! “The Stuffed Pig” drew locals with their small dogs and a tourist family with their golden retriever named Sunny. There’s a fully covered, open air, gravel bottomed patio. We treated ourselves to the Caribbean Lobster Benedict, blueberry pancakes and cranberry walnut French toast. They had an option to buy real maple syrup from Vermont where Gary and I are from so they get a positive vote on all accounts!

After the traditional Visitors Center stop to buy our pin, postcards and get the NP stamp we boarded a small boat to Boca Chita Key. Biscayne NP is 95% under water but there are at least three islands you can visit for a half day tour or stay overnight on the other Keys. Our boat only had 11 passengers, one Captain and one crew member. They were fabulous. You can kayak (can be rough seas and it’s an at least 3= hour paddle in good weather) or take a chartered sailboat tour out to the islands as well.

The history of Boca Chita is fun and interesting as it was a rich man’s party island in prohibition days. Not sure if the pirates and rum runners back then were a threat or a welcome addition to the gathering! There is an ice house, a church, lighthouse and a multi bay garage where it is said The Honeywell’s used to bring their high-end cars out on a barge to simply show off to the invited guests. They could not be driven as there are no roads on Boca Chita Key. The walk around the small island and beautiful weather made for great finish to a long day.

Coral infused stone walls with metal fish art

The diversity of people at the Parks is interesting and fun. We have spoken to a father and young son from Poland on their third trip to the US. Last year they went to NYC and the year before they toured the Grand Canyon, Los Vegas and LA. There were small groups of Asians and many USA “Snow Birds” camping in their RVs until their return to Michigan, or where ever, in the Spring.