(Nexstar) – When you visit a national park, you will want to see its natural charm. El Capitan and Yosemite half-domes in Yellowstone, and old-faceful with delicate arches.
However, in Florida National Park, it is necessary to hike and take a bus to see some of its beloved features. You’ll be lucky on a boat, or some scuba gear, especially considering the park is 95% underwater.
North of Key Largo is Biscayne Bay, south of Miami along Florida’s east coastline. There, within Miami’s view, is the calm Biscayne National Park.
Biscayne National Monument, which spans nearly 173,000 acres, was officially established in October 1968 after President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a Congressional Bill led by Dante Faysel (D-FLA.). Johnson was one of a handful of presidents, including Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon. Richard Nixon spent time at the retreat of the famous Kokorobo Club in the current Biscayne.
Since then, Biscayne has been expanded and renamed as a national park.
The park is touted as having “four different ecosystems” that melt together to create “ecotones.” The park is home to hundreds of species of fish, birds, plants and insects. In the US, several threatened endangered species will invite biscaynes to their homes, including beach jackmontia, sea turtles and wood storks.
You may be lucky enough to see urionfish native to the Indian and Pacific oceans. Wonderful, park officials say they want to reduce the population that has established themselves in the Atlantic waters around Biscayne due to the large threat of environmental threats.
It is within those same waters that lionfish stems find some of the most beloved features of biscayne.
Certainly, on track and field, Biscayne has many eye-catching sights.
You can camp among the palm trees of Boca Chita Key and Elliot Key. Both are only accessible by boat. Follow the jetty walks to view the park, Biscayne Bay and the stilted structures that once built in the waters. Within the Dante Fackell Visitor Center, you can explore galleries and museums featuring local artists. Adams Key allows you to walk through the areas that the aforementioned president enjoyed while visiting the Kokorobo Club Retreat.
However, while visiting Biscayne, your eyes are frequently drawn to the water, so may be your desire to explore it. If so, you are lucky.
Biscayne National Park offers numerous aquatic activities to participate during your visit, including canoeing, kayaking, fishing, lobster, boating, guided boat tours, snorkeling and diving.
Photo: What did you see when you visited the national park?
Boat and paddling options take you across the waters of the park’s shallow bay and along the mangrove-enclosed coastline. Snorkeling and diving literally give you a deeper look into the park.
According to the National Park Service, Shipwrecks are dotted across the seabed around the park, with six mapped and marked with mooring buoys. Park officials say three shipwrecks, Erl King, Alicia and Lugano, which sank in 1891, 1905 and 1913, are suitable for scuba diving, while the rest can be enjoyed by snorkelers.
The wreckage can be found along the Maritime Heritage trail, which also includes the Forirox Lighthouse.
Under the water, a vast coral reef is found filled with colorful fish, sharks and turtles. There are over 500 species of fish known to glide around coral reefs along the biscayne.
Slideshow: Biscayne National Park
You may also encounter one of Biscayne’s biggest challenges while exploring marine debris, which are warm coastal oceans. The National Park Service says that fragments made up of solid human items that end in the ocean can prove to be harmful and even deadly to the park’s wildlife.
“The highly polluted area is disappointing and upsetting for visitors to the national park,” officials warn.
To prevent the situation from getting worse, NPS recommends avoiding single-use plastic products, reducing the amount of garbage produced, and reusing items such as water bottles, bags, and food containers.
Biscayne National Park is known to close due to the hurricane, but is open daily and open daily.
