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Exploring | Sports and the Outdoors
Occupying 172,000 acres along the southern portion of Biscayne Bay, south of Miami and north of the Florida Keys, Biscayne National Park is 95% submerged, its terrain ranging from 4 feet above sea level to 60 feet below. Contained within are four distinct zones: Biscayne Bay, undeveloped upper Florida Keys, coral reefs, and coastal mangrove forest. Mangroves line mainland shores much as they do elsewhere along South Florida’s protected waters. Biscayne Bay serves as a lobster sanctuary and a nursery for fish, sponges, crabs, and other sea life. Manatees and sea turtles frequent its warm, shallow waters. The park hosts legions of boaters and landlubbers gazing in awe over the bay.
Getting Here
To reach Biscayne National Park from Homestead, take Krome Avenue to Route 9336 (Palm Drive) and turn east. Follow Palm Drive about 8 miles until it becomes Southwest 344th Street, and follow signs to park headquarters in Convoy Point. The entry is 9 miles east of Homestead and 9 miles south and east of Exit 6 (Speedway Boulevard/Southwest 137th Avenue) off Florida’s Turnpike.
Park Essentials
Admission Fees There’s no fee to enter Biscayne National Park, and you don’t pay a fee to access the islands, but there’s a $20 overnight camping fee that includes a $5 dock charge to berth vessels at some island docks. The park concession charges for trips to the coral reefs and islands.
Admission Hours The park is open daily, year-round.
Contacts
Biscayne National Park. | Dante Fascell Visitor Center, 9700 S.W. 328th St. | Homestead | 305/230–7275 | www.nps.gov/bisc.
Exploring
Biscayne is a magnet for diving, snorkeling, canoeing, birding, and, to some extent (if you have a private boat), camping. Elliott Key is the best place to hike.
Biscayne’s corals range from soft, flagellant fans, plumes, and whips found chiefly in shallow patch reefs to the hard brain corals, elkhorn, and staghorn forms that can withstand depths and heavier shoreline wave action.
To the east, about 8 miles off the coast, 44 tiny keys stretch 18 nautical miles north to south, and are reached only by boat. No mainland commercial transportation operates to the islands, and only a handful are accessible: Elliott, Boca Chita, Adams, and Sands keys, lying between Elliott and Boca Chita. The rest are wildlife refuges or have rocky shores or waters too shallow for boats. December through April, when the mosquito population is less aggressive, is the best time to explore. Bring repellent, sunscreen, and water.
Adams Key.
A stone’s throw from the western tip of Elliott Key and 9 miles southeast of Convoy Point, the island is open for day use. It was the onetime site of the Cocolobo Club, a yachting retreat known for hosting presidents Harding, Hoover, Johnson, and Nixon as well as other famous and infamous luminaries. Hurricane Andrew blew away what remained of club facilities in 1992. Adams Key has picnic areas with grills, restrooms, dockage, and a short trail running along the shore and through a hardwood hammock. Rangers live on-island. Access is by private boat, with no pets or overnight docking allowed. | www.nps.gov/bisc/planyourvisit/adamskey.
Boca Chita Key.
Ten miles northeast of Convoy Point and about 12 miles south of the Cape Florida Lighthouse on Key Biscayne, this key once was owned by the late Mark C. Honeywell, former president of Honeywell Company, and is on the National Register of Historic Places for its 10 historic structures. A half-mile hiking trail curves around the island’s south side. Climb the 65-foot-high ornamental lighthouse (by ranger tour only) for a panoramic view of Miami or check out the cannon from the HMS Fowey. There’s no freshwater, access is by private boat only, and no pets are allowed. Only portable toilets are on-site, with no sinks or showers. A $20 fee for overnight docking (6 pm to 6 am) covers a campsite; pay at the harbor’s automated kiosk.
FAMILY | Dante Fascell Visitor Center.
Go outside on the wide veranda to soak up views across mangroves and Biscayne Bay at this Convoy Point visitor center. Inside the museum, artistic vignettes and on-request videos including the 11-minute Spectrum of Life explore the park’s four ecosystems, while the Touch Table gives both kids and adults a feel for bones, feathers, and coral. Facilities include the park’s canoe and tour concession, restrooms with showers, a ranger information area, gift shop with books, and vending machines. Various ranger programs take place daily during busy fall and winter seasons. Rangers give informal tours on Boca Chita key, but these must be arranged in advance. A short trail and boardwalk lead to a jetty, and there are picnic tables and grills. This is the only area of the park accessible without a boat. | 9700 S.W. 328th St. | Homestead | 305/230–7275 | www.nps.gov/bisc | Free | Daily 9–5.
Elliott Key.
The largest of the islands, 9 miles east of Convoy Point, Elliott Key has a mile-long loop trail on the bay side at the north end of the campground. Boaters may dock at any of 36 slips (call ahead; Hurricane Sandy forced closure of the boardwalk and harbor in 2012, and at this writing docks remained closed). Head out on your own to hike the 6-mile trail along so-called Spite Highway, a 225-foot-wide swath of green that developers mowed down in hopes of linking this key to the mainland. Luckily the federal government stepped in, and now it’s a hiking trail through tropical hardwood hammock. Facilities include restrooms, picnic tables, fresh drinking water, cold (occasionally lukewarm) showers, grills, and a campground. Leashed pets are allowed in developed areas only, not on trails. A 30-foot-wide sandy shoreline about a mile north of the harbor on the west (bay) side of the key is the only one in the national park, and boaters like to anchor off here to swim. You can fish (check on license requirements) from the maintenance dock south of the harbor. The beach, fun for families, is for day use only; it has picnic areas and a short trail that cuts through the hammock.
River of Grass Greenway.
Years from reality, the idea of the River of Grass Greenway has fired up imaginations far and wide, generating support from The Mullet Wrapper (Everglades City’s newspaper), environmental groups, the Florida Department of Transportation, Collier and Miami-Dade counties, and the National Park Service, earmarking $5 million for a jump start. The proposed 75-mile paved path, about 12 to 14 feet wide—running parallel along Tamiami Trail—would allow pedestrians, wheelchair users, joggers, and cyclists to commune among alligators and other Everglades wildlife. Construction across sensitive wetlands has its challenges, yet environmentalists hail the project as a way to romp in the swamp without pumping tailpipe pollution into the air. The Greenway likely would be constructed from each end, meeting in the middle. The first 16-mile segment might run from Collier’s County Road 29 to State Road 29. From the east, a stretch would run from Krome Avenue to Everglades National Park’s Shark Valley entrance, where there’s already a bike loop. Public workshops are ongoing. TIP Follow progress (and offer your ideas) at www.riverofgrassgreenway.org. | Tamiami Trail | www.riverofgrassgreenway.org.
Sports and the Outdoors
Bird-Watching
More than 170 species of birds have been identified in and around the park. Expect to see flocks of brown pelicans patrolling the bay—suddenly rising, then plunging beak first to capture prey in their baggy pouches. White ibis probe exposed mudflats for small fish and crustaceans. Although all the Keys are excellent for birding, Jones Lagoon (south of Adams Key, between Old Rhodes Key and Totten Key) is outstanding. It’s approachable only by nonmotorized craft.
Diving and Snorkeling
Diving is great year-around but best in summer, when calmer winds and smaller seas result in clearer waters. Ocean waters, 3 miles east of the Keys, showcase the park’s main attraction—the northernmost section of Florida’s living tropical coral reefs. Some are the size of an office desk, others as large as a football field. Glass-bottom-boat rides, when operating, showcase this underwater wonderland, but you really should snorkel or scuba dive to fully appreciate it.
A diverse population of colorful fish—angelfish, gobies, grunts, parrotfish, pork fish, wrasses, and many more—flits through the reefs. Shipwrecks from the 18th century are evidence of the area’s international maritime heritage, and a Maritime Heritage Trail has been developed to link six of the major shipwreck and underwater cultural sites including the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse, built in 1878. Sites, including a 19th-century wooden sailing vessel, have been plotted with GPS coordinates and marked with mooring buoys.