Biscayne National Park

On Monday, we traveled south from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. It was a short and easy day. We had to stop in a marina in Miami in order to pick up Ben's mom. The kids didn't know she was coming, so they were completely surprised!

Tuesday morning, we cruised down to Biscayne National Park. This park is the largest marine national park because over 95% of it is underwater. There are a lot of shipwrecks and reefs to dive to and most of those are on the ocean side of the start of the keys. We started off at the visitor center. Took some pictures, watched a movie to learn more, and bought a few souvenirs at the gift shop before heading out to Boca Chita Key.

We took a short ride (~1 hour) across Biscayne Bay and pulled into an empty docking area. Boca Chita Key was previously owned by Mark Honeywell- the thermostat guy. He built the lighthouse and then after his wife somehow died on the island, sold it.

No one was there. Not one person. It was just us and our boat. We couldn't believe we had the whole island to ourselves! The cutest little hermit crabs were one of the critters that inhabit this island. We all enjoyed watching them, which required sneaking up on them so they wouldn't retreat into their shells.

Boca Chita Key is the northernmost of the Florida Keys, so we finally made it to one of our summer destinations.

Not the official park sign, but we didn't want to walk a mile in the heat and this one was unique and got the point across just the same.

Our view coming into Boca Chita Key.

Cartermaran tied up off to the right- we had the whole island to ourselves!

Our little walk around the island path led us to this beautiful little beach. We dipped our feet in before realizing the mosquitos were coming out in full force and we had to make a run back through the wooded area to our boat.

This is disgusting. All this trash is just thrown onto the side of the beach. How can people leave so much behind? What about the animals? Does this look like a trash can? I don't get it. Gross.

Apparently, this is a popular camping spot. All the grassy areas are for camping and group camping. Personally, I liked sleeping in my boat with AC, a comfy mattress, and no mosquitos. (Peep it in the background with the bright blue SUP on the side.)