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![]() The obvious way to explore this water paradise is by boat. Visitors can launch their own at Convoy Point, the mainland information center, or take one of the tours arranged there. A ninety minute excursion in a glass- bottomed boat along the mangrove fringed shoreline gives you a colorful view of the grassy seabed and the shrimp, lobsters, green turtles, hawksbill turtles, sponges, and exotic tropical fish lurking there. Biscayne National Park is a very diverse place. Four distinct ecosystems melt into one another creating rich edge communities, or "ecotones." These edges support an incredible array of wildlife, including hundreds of species of colorful fish, and plants found nowhere else in the United States, along with visitor favorites like pelicans, manatees and turtles. Winds, currents, storms and the park's close proximity to one of the nation's largest urban areas means that the entire park is in a constant state of flux — ever-changing in the face of new challenges posed by the constant cycle of building and destruction. ![]() Elliott Key was used on a transient basis for millennia by Tequesta Indians, and later by fishermen and wreckers from the Bahamas and the lower Florida Keys. The earlier name for the key was Ledbury Key, named after a ship that was driven ashore in 1760. There are legends of Elliott Key and adjacent keys being used as a refuge by pirates and escaped slaves. The chief pirate of legend is Black Caesar, who is said to have escaped from a slave ship, and used Elliott Key as his base. The key was inhabited and the site of pineapple plantations in the latter part of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century. In 1910 there were more than a dozen families raising pineapples on Elliott Key where an average crop was 50,000 to 75,000 dozen fruits, mostly sent by schooner to New York. |
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Biscayne National Park Florida
Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida, due east of Homestead. The park preserves Biscayne Bay, one of the top scuba diving areas in the United States. Ninety-five percent of the park is water.
Visitors can launch their boat at Convoy Point, the mainland information center, or take one of the tours arranged there. A ninety minute excursion in a glass- bottomed boat along the mangrove fringed shoreline gives you a colorful view of the grassy seabed and the shrimp, lobsters, green turtles, hawksbill turtles, sponges, and exotic tropical fish lurking there. Floridian nature is diverse here with 4 distinct ecosystems melting into one another creating rich edge communities, or "ecotones." Biscayne National Park is truly Floridian nature at its best!
Written by: Brenda Arnold
Biscayne National Park
Date published: 10/22/2013
4 / 5 stars
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