Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park is a mostly marine park south of Miami.

To see the park you really need to get out on the water. We took a boat tour out to the keys and then kayaked and snorkeled along the mangroves. We got lucky with a gorgeous day, not much wind, a few clouds and highs in the mid 80s F. Miami set a new record high of 87 F.

We got to the park an hour early to make sure we knew where to go and to check in for the boat and see the visitor center. The visitor center had a few exhibits on the mostly marine wildlife and on some shipwrecks in the bay.

I also did a little looking for birds and other wildlife while waiting.

The sailboat tour has room for six people, and one couple ran late and didn’t make it for the tour, so we had four plus the captain on sailboat. More wildlife while sailing out of the harbor.

Because there was little wind, we motored to Adams Key where we docked and were able to get off and eat a quick lunch before going kayaking and snorkeling.

Saw this dragonfly on Adams Key.

We had two-person kayaks and kayaked up the current and along some mangroves.

We kayaked through what the guide called a tunnel, a narrow passage between two mangrove islands.

We then put on our snorkel gear and floated in the current back towards the sailboat. The captain had a stand-up paddleboard that he tied the kayaks to. He was able to watch over us as we snorkeled.

The small fish like to hide in the mangrove roots, which at the outer edge don’t actually make it to the bottom, they are used by the tree to take up water. The tree can filter the salt out.

Trash gets washed into the ocean and ends up all over. Some of it also comes from shipwrecks. Not sure what the original source of this bottle was. Notice that the bottom is all crushed shells.

It was between 1 ft and 10 ft deep along our snorkel path, sometimes your belly went through the seagrass.

There were some larger fish also

The wind had picked up on the way back, and we were able to sail back.