October 08, 2007 at 09:16am by Hunson
My wife and I finally got the chance to partake in the Crandon Park kayak and snorkeling tour. Previously, we took the hour drive to John Pennecamp State Park for snorkeling (great trip by the way!) but Crandon Park is much closer, it’s only fifteen minutes away from South Beach. If you are limited for time this is a great way to see South Florida’s outdoors.
I called the EcoAdventure Tours office on Friday (305-365-3018) and we made reservations for the 9:30am – 1pm trip the next day (Saturday). It was an easy drive on Saturday morning from South Beach to the Eco Adventures office in Crandon Park.
While we were waiting for the tour to begin, we visited the Eco-Tour’s museum room. They have a great variety of hands-on exhibits for kids and adults!.
Our two tour guides went over the basic instructions on snorkeling. We paid for the trip ($50 a person, local residents $35) and headed out to the beach. Along the way, our guide R.J. stopped to show us the edible sea grapes. They are about the same size as regular grapes but taste somewhat like a tart plum. Good to remember if you are ever stranded on a desert island!
The guides demonstrated proper kayaking technique and we climbed aboard our tandem kayaks. We paddled north along Key Biscayne to Bear Cut Preserve, the site of a fossilized mangrove reef.
A husband and wife underwater adventure
We donned our snorkeling gear (it’s provided by the tour guides) and swam around the reef. My wife quickly spotted a nurse shark tucked in the reef. We had a great time snorkeling around finding colorful fish. I especially enjoyed following the large schools of 2 inch long silver fish!
After about 45 minutes of snorkeling we were getting tired so we loaded our snorkeling gear back on the boats and with the wind at our backs paddled back to the launch. It was a nice trip and we were back in South Beach by 1:30 in the afternoon.
If you enjoy the beach Crandon Park is a great beach with picnic tables and palm trees right on the beach. The park also has a great network of paved trails for walking and biking if you would like to explore more of the park on your own.
More pictures from our snorkel trip
A video of the EcoAdventure Tours on Key Biscayne - The closest snorkeling near Miami
[Download video to your computer. Help upload to iPod, PSP]
This featured article was written by Hunson, a website member at MiamiBeach411.
 | Hunson relocated to South Beach from Baltimore and became an elementary school teacher. He is an avid volleyball player, mountain biker and kayaker. Visit his blog at http://sunflowersandmountainbikes.blogspot.com See more articles by Hunson > |
