Wednesday, February 13: Florida City; Our Last Week

This is our last Monday in Florida City and we have checked off another experience on our “life list”. A group of others in our RV Club gathered for a picnic lunch at Biscayne National Park here in Homestead and then boarded a catamaran to glide across the bay to Boca Chita Key.

 This 25-mile ride was relaxing and unhurried. Our captain was knowledgeable about the area and its ecosystem.  On the horizon Miami and Key Biscayne cityscapes were always in view.

 We learned Boca Chita Key was previously owned by Mark Honeywell, who founded the Honeywell Corporation and one of the first structures we see on the island is the beautiful lighthouse. There is an old cannon, circa 1800s, that was salvaged from one of the many sunken ships that was on the bottom of Biscayne Bay.


 We climbed the circular stairway to the observation deck of the lighthouse, where we were able to see other Keys, the Bay and Atlantic Ocean and an overview of Boca Chita.


 Sometime in the 1930s Honeywell built the lighthouse so that he would have a landmark to aim for when boating across the bay, but it was never used as a “lighthouse” because it was built on the wrong side of the island and would have confused other boaters.

Urban legend has it that Honeywell pushed his wife from the observation platform around the top of the lighthouse, and then he sold the island. Historians say she died of an “accidental fall”, whether from the lighthouse or not is unknown.  We had an hour to spend on the island so we strolled the grounds to the white sandy beach that was covered with perfect shells-some of which were inhabited, and beautiful pieces of coral.

The palm trees on the island were damaged during Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and now grow askew toward the sun.  We highly recommend taking this tranquil and serene ‘3-hour’ tour (sans Gilligan) to Boca Chita Key, which is often confused in spelling and location with Boca Chica Key, that is down near Key West.

Today, Wednesday the 13th of February we drove to Key Largo and spent most of the day at John Pennekamp State Park. This is the first undersea park created in the United States and has miles of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps. 

We had a very friendly (and hungry) white Ibis visit our picnic spot.