This trip gave us two National Parks for the price of one. Biscayne Bay is the often forgotten National Park located just 15 miles away from the much more well known Everglades. Our original plan was to visit the Homestead Beach in the morning, and then go on a cruise in the afternoon. However, everyone was still incredibly sun burnt, and the idea of spending more time in the sun didn't sound like anybody's idea of fun. So instead, we sat in the dark hoping that the sun would go away all morning. Not quite, Matthew and I decided to go out for coffee and donuts. Mostly, Matthew wanted the coffee and I wanted the donuts. Dunkin was the order of the day for coffee, but I was convinced that we could find something better in the way of donuts. I decided on La Patrona Bakery. It wasn't exactly donuts, but it was authentic. I got something that looked like a doughnut and was covered in cinnamon. Then we went back to the house and played Parks while waiting for our afternoon tour. One thing we noticed about Homestead, every road has 3 names. Usually 2 different numbered roads and one named road. I did ask about this, and the locals weren't much help in answering this mystery.
The afternoon arrived and we drove to the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. The land portion of the park is incredibly small at roughly 10 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Instead the vast majority of the park is the bay and the northern Florida Keys. Since the park is mostly water, any activity you do is going to require a boat. The most popular activities involve snorkeling around the coral reef and sunken ships. However, with our young kids, it didn't seem wise to plan a day of snorkeling. Maybe when they are older (I seem to always say that). Instead we chose the Heritage of Biscayne Bay tour.
We arrived in time to tour the Visitor Center. The Rangers were very friendly and talked to the kids for a long time, so long in fact that we missed the movie. Then it was time to go on our tour. We got in a boat with about 20 other people and listened to the history of Biscayne Bay. Besides our family there was one other kid on the tour and most everybody else was 60+. There was one unfortunate gentleman who spent most of the ride seasick. The guide told stories about the different keys. The first we learned about of Porgy Key. This key was owned by King Arthur and Sir Lancelot Jones. Their dad settled the key around the turn of the 20th century, and was granted ownership basically because he was the only person who wanted the key. After the dad passed away, Arthur and Lancelot took ownership. They worked as fisherman there. As the 1920s rolled around, the keys became a popular destination for the rich to visit, with several of them being bought by famous people. Lancelot took advantage of this new situation by offering his services as a guide to the best fishing in the keys. When World War 2 started, the two brothers went to war. Unfortunately, Arthur Jones was killed in action, but Lancelot returned to his beloved Porgy Key to live the rest of his days. But progress comes to the keys, and a developer wanted to build a road along the keys from Miami to Key Largo. He got permission on most of the keys, but Lancelot wouldn't sell. At the same time, President Johnson was considering making the place a National Park. In the end it was up to Lancelot whether he would sell his land to the developer or to government. He decided to sell to the Federal Government under the condition that he could live on his island the rest of his life. And he almost made it. In 1992, when Lancelot was in his 90s, Hurricane Andrew came through and destroyed his home. But he wasn't too upset about it. While sheltering in Miami, he got to enjoy the comforts of electricity and decided that he really liked it. So Lancelot spent his remaining years with his relatives in Miami, finally getting to experience the joys of air conditioning.
It was a neat story, and when it was over we got to our stop at Boca Chita Key. This key was owned by Mark Honeywell. In additional to his vacation home, this was used as the headquarters of a group of people who were opposed to the New Deal. Apparently, the movement didn't go anywhere. But in the mean time it was a favorite destination of many of the rich and powerful men of the 1930s - 1950s including Lyndon B. Johnson. Due to his many visits to Boca Chita Key, LBJ was the champion of making the area a National Park.
Once on the island, we got to tour the "lighthouse". In quotes for two reasons: number one, it doesn't have a light in it. Number two, it is on the wrong side of the island to be useful as a lighthouse. Yes, it was strictly ornamental, but an impressive structure nonetheless. We all went up the lighthouse, with Julia charging up as fast as she could. Joanna on the other hand was much more cautious. We walked around to all the buildings (all but the restrooms were closed). Elisabeth and I took the trail around the island. Amazingly, this was the only place on our entire trip that we felt the sting of mosquitoes. Everything I had read said the mosquitoes would be ever-present on our trip. I guess we got lucky. We were told to be back at the boat at a certain time, but when Elisabeth and I emerged from the island trail everybody was already on the boat but us. I felt bad about making them wait, even if we were a full minute early.
The tour was now over and it was time to get back to the mainland. Since the guide had nothing left to say, the captain went full throttle and took us back as fast as he could. We were sitting in the back of the boat, but the fun was in the front, where the splashing water was soaking the passengers. Elisabeth and I decided to go to the front of the boat and protect them from this menace. Eventually Rebekah and Matthew Jr joined as we got completely soaked. At one point, Rebekah got water in her eyes and the tour guide gave her a small towel saying, "Normally I let people live with their life choices".
We got back to the mainland at 5:00pm, at least a half-hour later than we had anticipated. This meant that the store was closed and we couldn't buy our required magnet. One our way out, I saw our tour guide and realized that we needed a picture with him. I ran toward him, startling him in the process. He jumped like he thought I was going to attack him. After getting a picture, DW asked what we were doing next. I said that we were planning on dinner at Casavana. He said he was sure that would be fine, but if we wanted real Cuban food, we should go to Havana Spice. So we took his advice and went there instead. It was a small restaurant with just a few seats.. Very few patrons spoke English and the employees didn't at all. We had a hard time communicating our order, when we didn't recognize much on the menu. We even asked the customer next to us what he was having, since it looked really good, but he had no idea what he had ordered either. He had asked the waiter to bring him the best dish in the house. It was well worth it! Everyone shared plates, so we got a good sample of what Cuba had to offer. We are fans!
With only one day at Biscayne Bay, we didn't get to see everything that was available. But it was just about perfect without being able to do the activities that would require older kids. Next, we would go back to the Everglades for our second day.
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