Biscayne & Everglades
I talked about how Dry Tortugas was a unique National Park in a previous post because of how it can only be accessed by boat or seaplane, but Biscayne actually follows suit in that the coral reefs and islands that make up the park can only be accessed by boat too! I wanted to knock this park off my bucket list and honestly the easiest thing to do was plan a weekend trip down to the Miami area with some kind of boat tour to check out the park. Coincidentally, I had joined an all girls outdoors group shortly before deciding I wanted to tackle this park and was pretty excited to find out they were already planning a camping trip to the Everglades and some of the girls were interested in snorkeling at Biscayne one of the days.
Now listen, I’m a big fan of hiking but I also enjoy coming back to running water and a hot shower after romping around in nature all day so camping isn’t something I’ve done a whole lot of. I also am NOT a fan of deep water and you will rarely find me out in the ocean whenever we do a beach day so why was I excited for this trip you may ask?? Well, I figured it was time to be brave and conquer some fears that may hold me back from other experiences in the future and why not go hang out with a bunch of women who are more experienced and can make me feel safe while I get out of my comfort zone?
Also a quick little sidenote here – the Everglades are considered true Florida wilderness. The stretch of interstate that goes through this area has no service and you’re essentially surrounded by swamp. If the image of alligators and pythons come to mind when you think of Florida, the Everglades is exactly where you will find them in abundance. If you plan on making the trip I highly recommend downloading an offline map of the area and making sure you are absolutely prepared. There will be a sign letting you know when you’re coming up on the last gas station for quite awhile so stop and stock up on anything before going forward. Also keep in mind there is very little light in this area so make sure you’re even more prepared if you’ll be coming through at night! If you’re camping, highly recommend showing up during daylight hours so you can familiarize yourself with the area because it will be easy to get lost!
The first night we all got set up around a campfire and got to know each other and I took the opportunity to try and get some good night shots with my GoPro. I was pretty happy with how they turned out for my first try too! The next morning the group who was going snorkeling set off to Miami so we could get fitted for wetsuits and meet up with the tour company. We booked through the Biscayne National Park Institute and they offer quite a few different tours if you’re interested in checking out the park yourself. The trip that we decided on took us out to Boca Chita and Stiltsville and then they took us to two different spots for snorkeling. The whole thing lasted about four hours and was about $80 and well worth the money.
Unfortunately, I was so nervous about getting in the water that I didn’t eat any breakfast and I ended up being super nauseous on the boat. I snorkeled a bit at the first location but I was trying my best to not throw up in front of a bunch of strangers at the next location so I stayed back in the boat until everyone came back.
Note: Don’t be like me!! Eat something before this trip! I’m usually not prone to motion sickness or anything so I wasn’t expecting to miss out on part of the trip because of it but you take a small boat out and it was pretty bumpy that day.
Even though I missed out on the full snorkeling experience, I was so proud of myself for conquering my fear and getting in the water! I was the last one in and it definitely took a little bit of a pep talk but we made it. I was honestly okay and ready to go until our guide was telling us about how the previous group had seen nurse sharks in this exact location and I had an internal panic attack all over again. (You can tell me nurse sharks are not dangerous all you want but the idea of seeing any kind of LARGE fish when the water is only a couple feet deep is TERRIFYING OKAY?!)
Luckily (for me) I only saw a few small fish and had a very uneventful time in the water before we were heading to the next location.
I don’t have any photos from Boca Chita but it’s just a small island that has a lighthouse. We stopped here for about an hour and were given the opportunity to walk around and eat our snacks. On the way back to Miami we drove through Stiltsville and I still to this day can’t understand how anyone would want to stay in one of these houses for a night or even live there?? The area is now within Biscayne National Park limits so no one lives there currently, but apparently it was a thing from the 1930s to about 1980.
I didn’t get any photos of this part of the trip but I am working on a video so if you want to see more then keep an eye on my YouTube channel 🙂