This national park is 95 percent underwater: Here's what it's hiding
At one Florida national park, however, it'll take more than a hike or a bus ride to see some of its beloved features. You'll have better luck with a boat, or maybe some scuba gear, especially considering the park is 95 percent underwater.
North of Key Largo but south of Miami, along Florida's eastern coastline, you'll find Biscayne Bay. There, within view of Miami, is the serene Biscayne National Park.
Spanning nearly 173,000 acres, Biscayne National Monument was formally established in October 1968 after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a Congressional bill led by Representative Dante Fascell (D-Fla.). Johnson was among a handful of presidents, including Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover, and Richard Nixon, who had spent time at the famed Cocolobo Club retreat within what is now Biscayne.
Since then, Biscayne has been expanded and renamed as a national park.
The park is touted as having 'four distinct ecosystems' that melt into each other, creating 'ecotones.' The park teems with hundreds of species of fish, birds, plants, and insects you won't find anywhere else in the U.S. Several threatened and endangered species also call Biscayne home, including beach jacquemontia, sea turtles, and the wood stork.
You may even be lucky enough to see a lionfish, native to the Indian and Pacific Oceans. While stunning, park officials say they're hoping to reduce the population that has established itself in the Atlantic waters around Biscayne because of their significant environmental threats.
It's within those same waters that the lionfish stalk that you'll find some of Biscayne's most beloved features.
Sure, on land, there are plenty of eye-catching sights at Biscayne.
You can camp among palm trees on Boca Chita Key and Elliot Key, both of which are only accessible by boat. You can follow the jetty walk to get views of the park, Biscayne Bay, and the stilt structures once built in the waters. Within the Dante Fascell Visitor Center, you can explore a gallery and museum, which often features local artists. On Adams Key, you can walk through the area that the aforementioned presidents would have enjoyed while visiting the Cocolobo Club retreat.
But, as your eyes are frequently drawn to the water while visiting Biscayne, so too might your desire to explore it. If so, you're in luck.
Biscayne National Park offers numerous aquatic activities that you can partake in while visiting, including canoeing, kayaking, fishing, lobstering, boating, guided boat tours, snorkeling, and diving.
The boating and paddling options will take you over the shallow bay waters of the park and along the mangrove-fringed shorelines. Snorkeling and diving will give you a deeper look into the park – literally.
Shipwrecks dot the seabed around the park, with six having been mapped and marked with mooring buoys, according to the National Park Service. Park officials say three wrecks – Erl King, Alicia, and Lugano, which sank in 1891, 1905, and 1913, respectively – are better suited for scuba diving, while the others can be enjoyed by snorkelers.
The wrecks are found along the Maritime Heritage Trail, which also includes the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse.
Below the water, you'll find expansive coral reefs brimming with colorful fish, sharks, and turtles. There are over 500 species of fish known to glide around the reefs along Biscayne.
You may also encounter one of Biscayne's biggest challenges while exploring its warm coastal waters: marine debris. The National Park Service says the debris, which comprises any human-made and solid item that ends up in the ocean, can prove detrimental and even deadly to the park's wildlife.
'A highly polluted area is disappointing and upsetting for visitors to a national park,' officials warn.
To help keep the situation from worsening, NPS recommends avoiding single-use plastic products, reducing the amount of trash you produce, and reusing items like water bottles, bags, and food containers.
Biscayne National Park is free to visit year-round and open every day, though it has been known to close due to hurricanes.
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