Biscayne National Park

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Geo: 25.4533, -80.3386

On our third day of this trip, we visited Biscayne NP. We only spent one day in the park so not nearly as many pictures on this page. After our canoe tour in Biscayne Bay, we walked along a bayfront boardwalk and out a short jetty and back and that was it for us in the park. The park does have one long hiking trail, but it is on Elliot key and is only accessible by boat, and it was too far to paddle to. The hiking trail is actually a highway that was built before the park was established as a National Monument in 1968 (it became a national park in 1980). The highway, nicknamed 'spite highway', was built by a group of landowners who hoped to prevent the park from being established so they could develop it similar to the development that occured along most of the Florida coast. Fortunately it didn't work.

After visiting the park we drove north, along the coast in the direction of Miami and ran accross a Miami-Dade County park called 'Black Point'. This park is on the shore of Biscayne Bay and the actual shoreline is still part of the national park, though the county park begins just inside the shoreline and includes a trail out along a breakwater that extends into the bay. This trail, including the portion in the county park itself, was a couple of miles long so Anne got her walking in for the day here. It is a nice park but, unfortunately, just inland from the park is Miami's Mt. Trashmore - a huge manmade mountain of garbage that is the area landfill. The prevailing winds at that time of day were from the West and the smell was not a nice one.

Enjoy the pictures.

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Photos

On Biscayne Bay
Our main activity in Biscayne NP was to rent a canoe and take a guided canoe trip into Biscayne Bay. The folks in the two kayaks were the only others on the tour. The person in the green canoe is the park ranger/guide on the tour.

Mowry Canal
In Biscayne NP, we paddled up this canal that flowed into the bay. The ranger is in the canoe ahead and just over his head you can see the gates used to control flow of fresh water into the bay. There are a bunch of these canals and, while probably necessary to provide fresh water for the population (which grows by 800 per day), it wreaks havoc on the marine life used to steady salinity levels. The canoe trip was fun but, as you can see, overcast with a little rain.

Manatee
That is a manatee just to the left of the yellow kayak. The shadow of its body is visble under water while its nose is poking up out of the water allowing a breath of fresh air. Manatees are very gentle, slow moving, vegetarian, air breathing mammals, not fish.

Another manatee
This manatee was rolling, sort of like a dolphin, right in front of the ranger's canoe. We were paddling along the Mowry canal in the park when we saw these manatees.

Biscayne NP boardwalk
This is part of a sort of nature trail along the shoreline at the park visitor center. That trail was only 1/4 mile long but was a pleasant and scenic walk.

Biscayne NP Visitor Center
The visitor center taken from the boardwalk along the shoreline. There is a small marina in front of the VC for boats belonging to the NP service and Florida law enforcement.

Us at Biscayne NP
Taken along that jetty that is part of the nature trail in front of the park visitor center.

Black Mangrove
The things sticking up in the water are called pneumatophores, specialised root-like structures which stick up out of the soil to above the surface of the water like straws for breathing. The mud that the mangrove grows in is oxygen poor, thus this type of mangrove uses this method to get oxygen from the air.

Black Point Park Marina
Taken from the jetty that projects into the bay. This really nice park is sort of ruined by the smell from the Miami-Dade county landfill, which is that man-made hill in the background.

Canal Gates
A close up view of the gates that control the flow of fresh water into the bay. This was taken from the trail in Black Point Park along a different canal from the one we were in with the manatees. The trail here paralleled the canal and then ran out along a jetty into the bay. There were signs cautioning to watch out for crocodiles. Didn't see any.