Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: November 7, 2021
Biscayne NP is the last crocodile habitat in the USA. The croc numbers grew from 60 to 240. At the NP Visitor Center, we saw three manatees swimming by the boat dock. We boarded the boat “King Fisher” and bounced across Biscayne Bay for six miles to the outer barrier islands and maze of mangrove trees. Anchoring at Hurricane Creek (photo#1), we boarded paddleboards instead of kayaks. The park ranger guide Harold led us through a forest of dense mangrove tree “islands” where we paddled for 90 minutes. I saw a small stingray, two black tip sharks, sponges, small fish and got to hold an upside-down jellyfish (Photo#3). In Photo #4, the dark outline of the black tip shark is in the upper right hand corner. The boat then took us over to nearby Adams Key, actual real land, where we ate our sack lunch, and I hiked a .5 mile trail full of mosquitoes. On this small island, a former two story building called the Cocolobo Club once served fishermen as four US Presidents (Harding, Hoover, Nixon & Johnson) vacationed and fished here.
