Biscayne National Park
Boca Chita Key
This marks our 24th park.
Biscayne is located about 20 miles south of Miami (which turned out to be too close for us). People talk about Atlanta traffic, but man… Miami takes the cake! Can you imagine it taking 16 minutes to go 1 mile?! We wanted to do a little sightseeing prior to our visit to the park. So, we headed to little Havana in hopes of scoring an authentic Cuban sandwich and watching the old men play dominos in the park. Upon arrival, and after a couple of very near misses on the highway, we were met with jam-packed streets and nowhere to park our beast of a truck. After driving up and down the side streets in vain, we changed our plans and went to check out Babe’s Meat and Counter for their reportedly famous Cuban sandwich. It did NOT disappoint!
Cuban sandwich
Biscayne Boat Tour
Boat Tour
Biscayne is another park that, while it isn’t hard to get to, it isn’t easy to explore. The park covers over 172,000 acres and 95% of that is water. It’s home to coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, sea turtles, dolphins, manatees, and more than 600 species of fish. (Fun fact: the park boasts the third largest barrier reef in the world. Everyone correctly assumes the great barrier reef in Australia is #1. Bonus points if you know what #2 is….without googling it.) If you love water, this is the park for you! They offer snorkeling, kayaking, boating, and paddle boarding. The weather was a little cool the day we were there. So, we opted for the Heritage Boat Tour. We departed from the Dante Fascell Visitor center near Homestead. We shared the tour with about 30 other people which isn’t normally our jam as we aren’t big on guided tour events nor large groups of people, but this one turned out great. We buckled in for a threeeee-hour tour…. (Sadly, the Skipper and Gilligan weren’t running the ship. Some of the older folks will get this reference. Younger people can look it up.) The tour included learning about the history of the park while seeing the mangroves and the keys, including the infamous Boca Chita Key.
Boca Chita Key
Boca Chita Light House
Boca Chita was purchased in 1937 by Mark Honeywell, the founder of the company of the same name that got its start in thermostats and heating systems. He developed the island and turned it into his own private resort. Think Great Gatsby…lavish parties for their rich friends. In fact, he developed the natural bay into a docking spot for multiple boats, and built several structures including a barn, a chapel, and even a lighthouse. In a moment of short sightedness, or perhaps ignorance of its purpose, he built the light house on the wrong side of the island, and the Coast Guard showed up one day and told him he could never light it as it was likely to lure ships to their doom! Talk about a very expensive decorative prop. Honeywell owned the land until his wife tragically died on the island. There has been much speculation about her death. It seems clear that she fell from the observation platform of the lighthouse. The speculation revolves around whether it was an accident, or well, you know…. With a little more digging, we learned that Honeywell remarried 3 years later. (OK, wait for it….) Then, wife #2 apparently died in a house fire due to a faulty thermostat! Need we remind you that his company made thermostats!! Talk about irony! You can be the judge, but it is most definitely interesting!!
Mark Honeywell at Boca Chita
