The Biscayne National Park visitor center is by the sea of course and is at the end of a serene Biscayne boulevard. There are sailing ships and motor boats marooned at the piers and the water is pristine blue. Close to the shore are the red mangroves trees, apparently the entire Biscayne National Park was a part of the Everglades not too long ago before the water levels rose. The waters right next to the shore are slow zones because apparently manatees (which are endangered now) like to congregate here and are likely to get damaged by careless boats.

The trip I went on was a paddle boarding trip. I was accompanied by a family of three which included a young kid, and our captain Bryce. Bryce drove us through the choppy waters on a motorboat to the Blue Lagoon. The family owned a motorboat so they weren’t super impressed but I being someone who loves the open waters but has never lived by one was having a great time. As you drive on the first thing you see on the right is a nuclear power plant, a sore sight for most of the park enthusiasts and on the right is a wide mangrove shore stretching all the way right up to Miami, which is visible as distant skyscrapers, like the cover of an old sci-fi novel.

As we drove on we encountered the Adams Keys, the older visitor center of the Biscayne National Park. In the older days there was no way to get to the visitor center without a boat, considering the fact that 85% of the Biscayne National Park is underwater this is not entirely unreasonable, thankfully this is no longer the case. Close to this was the Blue Lagoon. A serene calm spot of solitude into which our captain anchored the boat, unloaded the paddle boards, gave us our life jackets and we’re all set to go.

It was not unlike the canoeing trip I did in the Everglades, only here we were out in the ocean instead of the swamp. There were red mangroves as in the Everglades, but the waters were much clearer without without much algae (being saltwater) and you could see the shallow sea floor with sea grass growing on it. We paddled through the mangroves and the ponds on the paddle boards, us sitting cross-legged and our captain standing, and along the way the captain told us about the life cycle of the fish in the Everglades and the Atlantic. We saw some Cassiopeia Jellyfish, a black tip shark, a sea cucumber, and a barracuda fish, and of course lots of birds. A pelican landed right next to us, probably expecting us to feed it. The wind was too strong and being horrible at paddling I was having a really hard time moving in the right direction.

This was a very relaxing trip. I don’t think I felt any strong emotions as I had felt on my Everglades trips, but it was a refreshing and beautiful experience nevertheless. I would love to come back here and snorkel and may be even dive down to see the real Biscayne.