Biscayne National Park, Florida - April 28th, 2023

Biscayne National Park is mostly a water experience, be it snorkeling, paddling, or sailing. Ann loves the water, but Keith is not comfortable in the water. However, he was willing, albeit reluctantly, to come along for the ride.

Friday we took the Sail, Paddle, Snorkel, and Island Visit tour with the Biscayne National Park Institute. Most of Biscayne National Park consists of the waters south of Miami. Of the dry land in the park, most are on keys or islands, which are only reachable by boat. The Biscayne National Park Institute operates several different tours. We chose the sailing tour because it stays in the calmer waters of the bay instead of going to the ocean side of the keys where the coral reef is. The snorkeling is not as good on the bay side, but Keith is prone to motion sickness and not a big fan of the open ocean. He has also never been on a sailboat before, so this was a new experience for him. He was a little anxious about the trip.

The sailboat is small and only carries up to six people along with the captain. However, the boat is large enough to have three sails: a main sail, a jib sail in the front, and a mizzen sail in the back. The sailing tour leaves from the Dante Fascell Visitor Center near Homestead Bayfront Park on the mainland and sails across Biscayne Bay to anchor somewhere close to the keys on the other side of the bay. Exactly where it goes is dependent on the weather and wind direction. Our captain, Frank, even changed his mind where we were going while we were en route. We ended up anchoring in two different areas on the north side of Sands Key.

The sail across the bay takes about two hours. We had all three sails up for a majority of the time. According to Captain Frank, weather permits the sails to be used about 75% of the time during the winter months and only about 25% of the time during the summer months, since there is typically less wind during the summer. So we felt pretty fortunate to have the sails up.

While we were anchored, we had a choice to snorkel or paddle. There were kayaks and paddle boards on the boat, so we had a choice of using either. There were three other passengers on the boat with us. At the first anchor point, everyone decided to snorkel, except for Keith. He is not a big fan of the water and decided to stay on board the sailboat. It seemed like it was the first time one of the other passengers had snorkeled. Captain Frank was very patient while helping her learn how to snorkel. The water is not very deep, but we were instructed not to stand on the bottom unless absolutely necessary, so as not to disturb the wildlife or get stung by one of the cassiopea or upside-down jellyfish which lay on the bottom in this area.

After about 45 minutes, we picked up anchor and moved over to another location nearby. Keith chose once again to stay on board. One of the other passengers decided to try kayaking for the first time. The other two passengers just floated in the water near the boat, having a relaxing time. Ann decided to go snorkeling again. As Ann started out, she noticed that the boat anchor was dragging, so she yelled back to Keith to let the captain know. He was on the other side of the boat teaching a passenger how to kayak. We were anchored next to a small island of mangroves. Ann started circling the island. She was able to get closer to the mangrove roots this time to get a glimpse of the fish hiding among the roots. She tried to do that at the first snorkeling location, but it was low tide and the depth of the water got a little too shallow to swim in. Besides a wide variety of fish, she also saw a couple of snails. One was a spotted sea hare. Pretty cool.

Ann was on the far side of the island when she heard the air horn. That meant she needed to head back to the boat. There had been rumblings of thunderstorms in the distance, so she figured the storms were getting closer than the captain wanted. She started swimming as fast as she could around the island. As the sailboat came into sight, so did Captain Frank in a kayak. He had Ann grab hold of the end of the kayak and gave her a lift back to the sailboat. Sure enough, he wanted to get moving due to the approaching thunderstorm. So our anchor time was cut a little short.

We motored most of the way back across the bay to the mainland. We could see lightning in the distance most of the way back, but the rain never hit us. Captain Jack even put up the jib sail for a little bit when it looked like the storms were far enough away. As we approached the dock, we caught a glimpse of a manatee before it dove down deeper upon hearing the sound of the motor.

Back on shore, we walked along the short walking path before leaving. There were lots of lizards and iguanas. Where the path crossed over the water, you could see some fish. Then we drove back to the campground. We were both tired, Ann from snorkeling and Keith from the sea sickness meds he had taken.

Ann had a great time snorkeling in Biscayne National Park. She’s hoping she can come back and snorkel on the ocean side among the coral. However, she knows she’ll probably have to leave Keith on shore. Keith enjoyed it as well, but probably not as much. He’ll probably pass next time. If you love the water, you’ll probably have a wonderful experience if the weather will cooperate.

Check out our related video: Biscayne National Park, Florida

(Ann)