Things to do nearBiscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay stretches roughly 35 miles along the southeastern coast of Florida, bordered by the Miami metropolitan area to the west and a chain of barrier islands to the east. Long before the city of Miami took shape, the bay sustained the Tequesta people, who fished its waters and built shell middens along its shores for thousands of years. Spanish explorers charted the bay in the sixteenth century, and it later became a vital corridor for fishing fleets and sponge harvesters throughout the nineteenth century.

Much of the bay falls within Biscayne National Park, established in 1980 to protect one of the largest marine parks in the National Park System. Visitors come to snorkel and dive the northernmost living coral reefs in the continental United States, where elkhorn and staghorn corals shelter parrotfish, angelfish, and moray eels. Above the waterline, the bay's mangrove shorelines serve as nursery habitat for dozens of species and as a natural buffer against storm surge.

Beyond the protected park boundaries, the bay pulses with the energy of urban South Florida. Sailing clubs, rowing programs, and windsurfers share the open water with recreational boaters heading out toward the barrier islands. Bayside Marketplace and the waterfront promenades of downtown Miami offer a place to watch the bay from land, with local seafood restaurants serving stone crab claws and fresh snapper that reflect the bay's long fishing tradition.

Biscayne Bay occupies a rare position as both a functioning urban waterway and a largely intact natural system, making it one of the most compelling and accessible coastal destinations in Florida.