Tag Archives: Florida Keys

Biscayne National Park

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Florida – May 2017 (22 out of 61)

An Ocean of Adventure

Biscayne National Park is a watery oasis on the east side of the tip of Florida. Come here to rest and frolic in the turquoise waters. Comprised of 95% ocean, it is perfect for kids to explore and enjoy the unique ecosystem. The shallow depth offers opportunities for viewing the ocean bottom and the myriad of life and sunken ships during boat tours. With minimal wave action, it’s a great place for kids of all ages to become proficient at snorkeling.

Snorkel at Boca Chita
Snorkel at Boca Chita
Snorkel at Boca Chita
Canoe the Mangroves at Biscayne

Boca Chita Key, accessible via boat tour, is a fun place to spend the day. The gorgeous white coral sands and sparkling clear water is paradise found. The architecturally pleasing lighthouse is a perfect background for photography. Let the kids climb to the top during a ranger tour to take in the exceptional view. The west side of the key is very shallow and snorkeling in the mangroves will give kids an opportunity to view nurseries teaming with little fishes. Bring along an underwater camera to entertain children for hours as they try to photograph this water world.  If you would rather stay dry, just take a small chair or beach blanket to sit and soak your feet in the sparkling waters.

http://www.nationalpark4kids.com
http://www.nationalpark4kids.com

The Dante Fascell Visitor Center is an aesthetically pleasing facility perched next to the ocean on Convoy Point. Explore the museum and watch videos where you will learn about Stiltsville, and the fortunately lost city of Islandia. You can pick up junior ranger books and badges, maps, and speak with rangers at the information desk to plan your visit.  Take a walk on the Jetty Trail and find a park bench to sit and enjoy the view.

www.nationalpark4kids.com

Biscayne National Park Jetty Trail

Junior Ranger Badge:

  • Unique biomes like mangroves, hardwood hammocks, sloughs, and estuaries
  • Animal Adaptations
  • Extinction and the early 1900’s feathered hat debacle
  • Watersheds

Remember

Protect skin from sun exposure! Please, remember to protect your children from the sun’s damaging rays. Fortunately, with such a variety of sun protection measures it is possible to enjoy plenty of sunshine without exposure so long as you are diligent. Maintain sun protection habits throughout your vacation to keep everyone comfortable and safe. Please, please remember that if your children have already developed a tan from sun exposure, they have already damaged skin. Suntanned skin does not equal healthy skin!

Wear wide brimmed hats. You might want to have your child wear them prior to leaving for your trip so they can get used to the feel.

Apply sunscreen while getting prepared in the morning. Then, reapply as necessary. Learn about SPF, and sunscreen ingredients. Many ingredients are exceptionally irritating to the eye. Consider sticking with zinc oxide-based sunscreens for the face. Our preferred facial sunscreen (worn daily) is Vanicream Broad Spectrum SPF 50. IT NEVER BURNS MY EYES! Our second facial sunscreen preference is Coppertone Water Babies Pure & Simple 50 SPF, it is easily found at most retail stores and pharmacies. My husband and son prefer Coppertone Sport Continuous Sunscreen Spray, or Bullfrog Mosquito Coast Sunscreen and Insect Repellent, but keep these away from eyes.

Cover up with Sun Protection (UPF) Clothing! We love these products. Like SPF, the higher the number, the better protection it provides against UV radiation. You can learn more about, and purchase these products from REI. You can also find them at many of the sun shops located in the Florida Keys. Our favorite is long sleeve technical shirts. They wick away moisture, dry quickly, and take up minimal space.

Find Shade. Bring an umbrella or small play tent with you when you know you will be in the sun for extended periods of time. Look for shaded places when boarding excursion boats or spending time outdoors.

Extra Tips

This park is best enjoyed out on the water! There is a bay excursion perfect for everyone. The Biscayne National Park Institute provides a wide variety of experiences to learn and explore including guided boat tours leaving from the Dante Fascell Visitor Center. Check out their website and book your excursion as soon as possible, as tours do fill up quickly. Additional companies authorized to operate within the park offer sailing, tours of Stiltsville, paddle boarding, kayak rentals, aerial tours, and bowfishing! With minimal wave action on the bay, sea sickness shouldn’t pose a problem but if you are particularly prone consider speaking with your physician prior so that you can maximize your enjoyment.

Bring a change of clean dry clothing on excursions. A well-maintained restroom is available on Boca Chita Key. If your excursion takes you to this island where you plan to get into the cool waters, consider wearing your swimsuit with comfortable cover-up on the way out. Change before boarding the boat. The kids will be more comfortable in clean, dry clothing for the return trip.

Where to Stay

Camping in this park is available on Boca Chita and Elliot Keys. Unfortunately, they are accessible via boat only. During this trip, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Florida City-Gateway to Keys. It offered us quick access to the Everglades and Biscayne.

Where to Eat

There are not many restaurants near Biscayne National Park.  We were eager for more exploration, and up to the 50-minute drive to Alabama Jack’s (58000 Card Sound Rd, Homestead, FL 33030). This down to earth, eclectic place is located off 905A (the alternate to US Hwy 1) into the Florida Keys. It’s a great place to eat outside; watch for manatees and fish swimming in the water way; and eat conch fritters!

When to Go

Avoid peak hurricane season, between August and October. We went in late May, and it was perfect!

Everglades National Park

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Florida – Visited May 2017 (24 out of 61)

It’s So Green

Take your children here to readily see the necessity of environmental preservation. This park offers opportunity for children to learn about the inter-connectedness of humans to their environment on a massive scale.  Exploring both the park and the surrounding areas offers exceptional insight into ecosystem health as it pertains to wildlife and ecosystem services. Everglades National Park is quintessential for the protection of wildlife, and humanity as well. The inter-coastal tide-ways are a unique interdependent area. Their health equates to the sustainability of coastal fisheries where abundant sea life is harvested for human consumption. The sheer volume of recreational participants including all manner of boaters, snorkelers, divers, fishers, and sun bathers is overwhelming in this part of Florida, outside the park boundaries. Additionally, homes and farms of every sort absorb available spaces against the turquoise sea. A little exploration and contemplation makes it apparent that preservation of every square inch of this national park space is paramount to the success of this regional ecosystem, and economic system.

Your children will feel like jungle explorers, and both of you will get the chance to try wildlife photography with plentiful opportunities to see alligators (safely up close), numerous birds, and other wildlife. Everglades National Park offers an ocean expanse of places to see. The presence of 200,000 alligators, 2,000 crocodiles, and “sloughs” (freshwater land channels) will keep you on the guided paths. However, the numerous boardwalks and paths throughout allow you to explore different areas of the park while still feeling immersed in the open space.

Junior Ranger Badge:

  • Unique biomes like mangroves, hardwood hammocks, sloughs, and estuaries
  • Animal Adaptations
  • Extinction and the early 1900’s feathered hat debacle
  • Watersheds

Remember:

Mosquitos! Wear repellant. While there are many “natural” alternatives available, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends only those with high active ingredients of DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, Oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthan-diol, and 2-undecanone. Speak with your doctor, but unless you have a medical condition or allergy, I highly recommend OFF! Deep Woods Insect Repellent worn daily while you are vacationing in the area. It is made with 25% DEET and provides up to 8 hours of protection. Speak to your pediatrician regarding younger children as, for them, certain repellants are not recommended.

The Everglades National Park and surrounding areas are home to numerous mosquitos because they thrive in the warm moist climate. West Nile Virus (transmitted by mosquitos) is a rare but exceptionally dangerous infection that can result in brain swelling, known as encephalitis. A very close family member contacted this disease in Colorado, so it is not unique to Florida. This disease can be deadly and leave lasting complications such as paralysis. Symptoms can include high fever, headache, or neck stiffness. Seek medical attention immediately. Additionally, Zika Virus (also transmitted by mosquitos) has been actively transmitted in Florida. Zika Virus primarily targets unborn children. Please discuss protection with your doctor and check out the CDC website for advice to people traveling to South Florida.

Extra Tips:

There are three main park visitor centers and they are located at vastly different accessible areas.  These are: Ernest F. Coe, Shark Valley, and Gulf Coast. The Flamingo Visitor Center is relatively inactive after suffering hurricane damage, but it can be accessed via the Ernest F. Coe entrance. Choosing your entrance is imperative to the areas that you will see. A long day could incorporate two centers. Realistically, if you wanted to explore each, you would want to take three days. With limited time availability, we chose the park entrance at Ernest F. Coe, which was nearest to the other two national parks we were visiting this trip (Biscayne and Dry Tortugas).

An example day trip itinerary:

Pack a lunch. Make your first stop at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center to pick up your Junior Ranger book and watch a video about the park, find ranger led activities, and pick up a park map. Proceed to Royal Palm where you will get your first great opportunity to see an alligator up close walking along the Anhinga Trail. This trail/boardwalk offers an incredible opportunity to see wildlife. Counting 14 alligators, we also saw birds and a variety of awesomely enormous grasshoppers. We covered our heads from the brief rain shower and took the Gumbo Limbo trail as well. It was tropical, hot, and humid and we viewed not much other than incredible plants and an enormous Liguus Tree Snail.

Take a lunch break under the verandah at Royal Palm with your packed lunch while the kids try to spot alligators.

Drive to the Pa-hay-okee Overook Trail. This was a favorite as the views were expansive. The mist across the slough and the plentiful trees were savannah like in their serenity. It was a great opportunity to enjoy the stillness of the park and an active hawk offered opportunity to enjoy the wildlife.

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Drive to Mahogany Hammock and enjoy this fun, twisty boardwalk in the trees. It is a great adventure for kids!

Drive to the Flamingo Visitor Center, a pink structure against the turquoise sea. It is beautiful here, but after Hurricane Irma, it is only partially open.  As such, this was a short stop for us. If we had more time, we could have looked for the elusive American Crocodile. There are only 2000 in the park itself!

Head back to the entrance and enjoy the views. Be sure to head back to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center before it closes (5:00 PM for our visit) to hand in completed Junior Ranger books and get badges for the kids.

Where to Stay

If we don’t have our RV, we gravitate to Holiday Inn Express. We enjoy the free morning breakfasts, and they usually have a pool or hot tub to enjoy in the evenings. Comfy beds, reasonable prices, and plentiful locations make this our go to hotel. During this trip, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Florida City-Gateway to Keys. It offered us quick access to the Everglades and Biscayne.

Where to Eat

Stop at Robert is Here fruit stand on your way into the park to purchase crazy, fun fruit to enjoy during a lunch picnic inside the park boundaries. With things like key lime milk shakes, jack fruit, and asian guavas, it is an adventure for your taste buds and a fun way to start the day. Look out back at the petting zoo!

When to Go

Avoid peak hurricane season, between August and October. We went in late May, and it was perfect!

Dry Tortugas National Park

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Florida – Visited May 2017 (23 out of 61)

Rare Treasure

This park is a place of adventure due to the uniquely limited accessibility, pristine oceanic beauty, and remote location. Located off the tip of the Florida Keys, it is accessible via float plane or boat. Take your children here to cruise across the sea on tranquil turquoise waters while they look for diving sea turtles. Take your family here to explore a 19th century fort, so historically intense you will feel as though you just stepped off a pirate ship. Go to spend hours snorkeling along the fort’s moat wall with barracuda, sting ray, brain coral and many other tropical fish. Take pictures of your children with salty sparkles shining in their hair, and glorious freckles peeking beneath sun kissed smiles. Go here for yourself, to stand upon the deck of the Yankee Freedom Ferry (the most common transport to the island) and feel the wind in your hair, feel young, vibrant, alive and joyful.  I am still left in awe over this trip, it was pure magic, almost too beautiful to have been real.

Remember:

Dehydration and Sea Sickness.

Drink plenty of water the night before your trip, during breakfast, and during the trip. Yes, you will have to journey to the restroom facilities, but you will be in the warm sun for a substantial amount of time. You will also be very active walking around the fort and swimming or snorkeling. Keep track of children’s fluid intake and be sure to push plenty of water among the plentiful on-board soda pop. Dehydration can lead to nausea and be easily mistaken for motion sickness or exacerbate the condition.

Consider motion sickness ahead of time. Motion aboard the Yankee Freedom Ferry can be relatively significant. Our family didn’t experience any trouble, but if you are prone to sea sickness be sure to ask your doctor for recommendations before your trip. Waiting to take motion sickness medication until you are sick is not advised. Some motion sickness medication can make you drowsy. It has been recommended to me to take it the night before. This helps alleviate the drowsiness, but may still reduce motion sickness. Talk to your physician and pediatrician.

Extra Tips:

Plan to arrive early. If taking the ferry, you will access it via the ferry terminal. When you arrive at the terminal, sit along the west wall to board early as there are no seating assignments. On board, we preferred to sit in the booth like seating area along the windows in the food galley. It offered shade, and quick access to the front of the lower boat deck where we could stand against the rails. It was a thrill to ride the waves and watch for sea life.

Bring your own snorkel gear. This is especially important if you intend your children to actively snorkel. Being familiar with your gear will make ocean time a more comfortable experience. No need to purchase, however, as the ferry does provide free gear. Utilize the buoyancy compensators provided by the Yankee Freedom Ferry if you plan to snorkel for any length of time (especially if you plan to go completely around the moat wall). You will be more comfortable, worry less about your children, and enjoy yourselves significantly better. Even though you are along the wall, you cannot use it as a place of rest due to its height and wave action.

Tour the fort and finish the Junior Ranger Badge, lunch, and then ocean swimming. You will get a bit warm walking around the fort and a nice dip in the ocean before boarding for the return is refreshing. However, watch the time while the kids are finishing their ranger booklets and guide them accordingly so that you have plenty of time to explore the waters. We enjoyed lunch back on board the Yankee Freedom between fort and snorkel activities. Allow yourself time to rinse-off with fresh water at the back of the boat after you swim and before you board.

Where to Stay

We did not camp on the island. I am sure that it would be a spectacular experience, but we couldn’t facilitate camping gear on this trip. If you are considering camping, there is plenty of information available on the Yankee Freedom Ferry and National Park Service websites. Please read camping information carefully.

The drive from Key Largo (base of Florida) to Key West is over 2 hours. So, it is best to stay closer to Key West the night before your trip to Dry Tortugas as the Yankee Freedom Ferry boards at 7:30 AM. Key West offers plenty of hotel amenities. However, our family enjoyed staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Marathon, Florida which is located 1 hour from Key West. Marathon Key was one of our favorite areas as it is smaller and more sparsely populated. We loved the Tarpon Creek Bar and Grill on the hotel property. We also enjoyed watching manatees at Sparky’s Landing located within walking distance.

Where to Eat

Grab a quick breakfast at your hotel. Bring along snacks and bottles of water. If you plan to take the Yankee Freedom Ferry, lunch is included. For dinner, take a short walk to the iconic Half Shell Raw Bar in Key West.

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When to Go

I would avoid peak hurricane season, between August and October. We went in late May, and it was perfect!

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