Skip to main content

What a Wonderful World (An #AtoZChallenge Post): B is for Biscayne National Park

 

The front of an orange kayak enters into a waterway lined with mangroves at Biscayne National Park

My husband recently re-retired, and we are front-loading travel. My#AtoZChallenge posts this year will explore our adventures--some pre-retirement, some post. Today's location: Biscayne National Park in Florida, USA. 

Though Biscayne National Park is located in Florida, it would be more accurate to say that it is in the waters off Florida, as 95 percent of the park is in Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. We knew that when we visited, we would want to be on the water, so we signed up for a kayak tour of the mangroves through the Biscayne National Park Institute. We met our guide, Daniel, at the Dante Fascell Visitor's Center, just as the winds started picking up. Daniel told us that he had some concerns about the weather, but if we wanted to give kayaking a try, he would be willing to take us out, as long as we understood that he might need to cancel our trip at any time. There were six of us there; four decided to go ahead and get out on the water, and the other two rebooked for later in the afternoon. (In retrospect, they should have gone ahead and gone with us, as the afternoon outing got canceled.)

Daniel was an excellent guide. He taught us about the various types of mangroves. Red mangroves are able to use arial roots to desalinate the water they grow in. Black mangroves have lots of roots that come up out of the ground, and those roots need to stay above the water, or the tree can drown. Mangroves reproduce through viviparity, which essentially means that fully formed little trees break off from the parent tree. Those little trees will float around in the shallow waters until taking root in the soil. 

We explored various mangrove channels and spotted numerous birds. It rained for most of the time, but the water was relatively warm. We had a great experience kayaking, and would definitely recommend it. The following video shows a white bird (a great white heron, perhaps?) sitting in a mangrove while rain falls, then the bird flies away. 


Come back tomorrow to see where in the world we will visit next! 

Comments

  1. messymimiApril 2, 2025 at 9:20 PM

    Swamps, bays and watery bogs are all so fascinating. I went kayaking once, it was such fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AmeliaApril 3, 2025 at 5:58 PM

    Were there any alligators???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KristiApril 3, 2025 at 8:28 PM

      We didn't see any at Biscayne, but--spoiler alert!--check back on "E is for Everglades" day. :-)

      Delete
  3. Donna B. McNicolApril 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM

    I'll be checking in for the allligators! LOL!

    Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Conversations are so much nicer when more than one person does the talking. :-) Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts; I'd love to hear from you!

Popular posts from this blog

Ten Things of Thankful: 39 Years Edition

A political map of the world circa 1987. The Soviet Union takes up a sizable portion. A lot has happened in the last 39 years. The Berlin Wall came down. The Soviet Union collapsed. The Twin Towers fell. Technology has changed: landlines and phone booths are practically extinct, and random questions can be answered in seconds by asking Google, Siri, or Alexa. No longer do drivers keep the Thomas Guide in their cars; navigation systems will give turn-by-turn directions, and recalculate when the driver doesn't follow the directions. Some cars don't even need drivers. While many shoppers do their shopping in-person, some simply log into Amazon and have their item show up on their doorstep--sometimes within hours.  I've seen pieces of the Berlin Wall. I've traveled to places that used to be behind the Iron Curtain. I've been to Ground Zero. I no longer have a house phone, and have looked up the answers to countless questions using my cell phone. I do not miss the stress...
5 comments
Read more

Ten Things of Thankful: April Showers Edition

  A red peony bud prepares to open fully  After an incredibly dry winter, we had a bit of precipitation this past week, in the form of falling snow. We didn't have much, and it didn't really stick, but we'll take water however it wants to come. Fortunately, my peonies seem unaffected by the cold snap, and are ready to put on a show here soon. 1. I'm thankful for moisture. 2. I'm thankful the flowers are still going to bloom. I don't know how the colder temperatures will affect the fruit crops. The strawberries look like they are still planning to set fruit. We'll have to see what happens with the peach, apricot, pear, and apple. (The apricot only bears heavily every other year anyway, and I think this is an "off" year--though I could be wrong.) Strawberry plants in full bloom 3. I'm thankful for anticipated berries.  We continue to clear out and otherwise prepare John's parents' house for sale. I've been going through old photos and...
8 comments
Read more

Monday Mentions: Equate Crutches

Have you ever needed crutches? I hadn't, until a week ago.  I'm pretty sure I strained a muscle while running a half-marathon.  (That sounds kind of cool, doesn't it? I'm not actually that cool; the last time I strained a muscle it was from carrying too many shopping bags at once.) In any case, I found myself in need of some crutches. I sent my husband to the store to get some. Photo: A pair of crutches leans against a wall  Not that crutches are all that complex, but because I hadn't used any before, I wondered if I could figure out how to adjust them to fit me properly. I shouldn't have worried. John came home from Walmart with their generic store brand of crutches, complete with instructions. First, I needed to take out a long bolt that went through the hand grip. Then I needed to find my height range, push down two metal pieces, and slide the crutches until the little metal pieces came up in the hole near my height range. (Having two people for this...
4 comments
Read more