Northeast Ohio Outdoors

NPS Getaway Idea: Biscayne National Park

By Lou Yuhasz on December 9th, 2009

Tweet

Who Says the Federal Government doesn’t have a sense of humor?

This was the NPS Weekend Getaway Idea for today, the day the first major blizzard blankets the country:

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Gray skies, early dusks, and biting cold—not to mention snow, sleet, and slush—can give the blues to residents of temperate zones and regions farther north.  Although winter doesn’t officially start until the solstice on December 21, the strategies with which our furred and feathered friends cope with the season already hold appeal. Hibernation—taking a day off from work for “a long winter’s nap”—sounds tempting, but you’ll probably have more fun if you opt for migration south, even in the abbreviated form of a getaway trip.

At Biscayne National Park in southeast Florida, you can exchange winter blues for the sun-flooded blue of a subtropical sky and the glittering blue of Biscayne Bay.  This color-saturated park—nature’s version of Marc Chagall’s America Windows—provides a home for animals like manatees, crocodiles, and dolphins.  You might spot a peregrine falcon while bird-watching, and a guided trip to one of the park’s keys—former coral reefs, which, since sea levels sank in the last ice age, have become forested islands—will introduce you to mahogany, gumbo limbo, and other tropical plants.

Rangers lead daily walks and talks with subjects such as wildlife (think sharks and manatees) and the items that wash ashore in the park.  Like ranger programs, Biscayne’s annual Family Fun Fest, which starts this weekend, combines learning and fun.  The event, now in its 10th year, runs on the second Sunday of every month from December through April.

You can get a panoramic view of Biscayne from the top of the lighthouse on Boca Chita Key, and you can surround yourself with the park by camping on one of its islands.  You can even immerse yourself in this special place by snorkeling in the waters of Biscayne Bay or on offshore reefs.

For a moment, think of yourself as a casting director, assigning roles for a pageant in which the national parks appear as cities of the world. Yellowstone might be London, with Old Faithful as iconic as Big Ben. Biscayne would surely be Venice.  This marine park, like that city’s network of canals, lends itself to boat travel.  Boat trips generally run daily.  Concessioner-operated boats take visitors to campsites, and campers who own their own vessels are welcome to use them.  Another watercraft, the canoe, can carry crocodile-watchers along the park’s shoreline of mangroves.

If you’d rather be under the water than on its surface, however, Biscayne’s coral reefs await you.  There you’ll discover not only the corals themselves but also sponges, fish, and other inhabitants of a world as intricate and colorful as Venetian glass.

Tweet

Comments are closed.