Thursday, January 24: Florida City- Key Biscayne

Today we are reminded why we retired to New Bern, a small, quaint town versus retiring to a metropolitan area like Dallas, Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Chicago, Miami ---TRAFFIC!

On the spur of the moment we, with Rita and John, decided to steer the Jeep north to Key Biscayne. After a preparation of lunch-to-go-in-the-cooler, we headed northbound; Dave did a great job negotiating US 1 through the traffic and lights and more traffic.  After driving through towns dressed with buildings and homes tinted in lavenders, fuchsias, turquoises, and greens we arrived at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, which is about fifteen minutes from downtown Miami.  

The state park hugs the Atlantic shoreline and Biscayne Bay.  We are not the first visitors to Cape Florida. Ponce de Leon stepped ashore on these very white beaches in 1513, but guessing he did not have a picnic lunch like we had.

After lunching under a beautiful palm tree and watching another group of picnickers use an entire container of lighter fluid to get a charcoal fire going, we meandered to the 95-foot tall Cape Florida Lighthouse.


 We were able to climb its 109 circular steps to the top and be awed by its 360 views of Miami‘s skyline, and the blue waters of Biscayne Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.


The history of this lighthouse began during its completion in 1825 and was damaged during the second Seminole War; being repaired by 1846 it was then re-damaged during the Civil War.  


Interestingly, the island we were enjoying today was at one time a port for runaway slaves and black Seminoles for escape to the Bahaman Islands.  The lighthouse stood abandoned for nearly one hundred years until the state restored this building to its original splendor.

The stark contrast of the brilliant white on the lighthouse, the crayola blue of the skies made for postcard-like photos.In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed most of the trees on the island. The forests and hammocks have been restored to its natural environment where loggerhead and sea turtles nest on the beaches, and over fifty kinds of butterflies flit and fly.