Biscayne National Park

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Biscayne National Park

Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, due east of Homestead

Homestead, Florida

Homestead is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, Florida, United States nestled between Biscayne National Park to the east and Everglades National Park to the west....
. The park preserves Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of south Florida. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts, North Bay, Central Bay and South Bay....
, one of the top scuba diving

Scuba diving

SCUBA diving is Underwater diving, or taking part in another activity, while using a scuba set. By carrying a source of breathing gas , the scuba diver is able to stay underwater longer than with the simple breath-holding techniques used in snorkeling and free-diving, and is not hindered by air lines to a remote air source....
areas in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Ninety-five percent of the park is water. In addition, the shore of the bay is the location of an extensive mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline water coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics. The word is used in at least three senses: most broadly to refer to the habitat and entire plant assemblage or mangal, for which the terms mangrove swamp and mangrove forest are also used, to refer to all trees and...
forest.

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Encyclopedia

Biscayne National Park is a U.S. National Park located in southern Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, due east of Homestead

Homestead, Florida

Biscayne Bay

Scuba diving

United States

Mangrove

Elliott Key

Elliott Key is the northernmost of the true Florida Keys , and the largest key north of Key Largo. It is located entirely within Biscayne National Park, in Miami-Dade County, Florida, east of Homestead, Florida, at coordinates ....
, the park's largest island, is considered the first of the true Florida Keys being formed from fossilized coral

Coral

Corals are marine organisms from the class Anthozoa and exist as small sea anemone?like polyps, typically in colonies of many identical individuals....
reef, i.e. Key Largo limestone. The islands farther north in the park are transitional islands of coral and sand.

Attractions

The major attraction of the park is scuba diving

Scuba diving

Snorkeling

Snorkeling is the practice of swimming on or through a body of water while equipped with a diving mask, a shaped tube called a snorkel, and usually swimfins....
on the coral reef

Coral reef

Coral reefs are aragonite structures produced by living organisms. In most reefs the predominant organisms are colonial cnidarian that secrete an exoskeleton of calcium carbonate....
inside the bay. It is also possible to take a glass-bottom boat tour of the bay, or rent kayak

Kayak

A kayak is a small human-powered boat. It typically has a covered deck, and a cockpit covered by a spraydeck. The kayak was used by the native Ainu people, Aleuts and Eskimo hunters in sub-Arctic regions of northeastern Asia, North America and Greenland....
s to explore the bay and the islands (Florida Keys

Florida Keys

The Florida Keys are an archipelago of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, Florida, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, Florida, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tort...
) in it. While accessing the historic homes of Stiltsville

Stiltsville

Stiltsville is a group of wood Stilt_house located one mile south of Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County, Florida....
is currently not allowed by casual visitors, these structures may still be observed from boats.

Gallery

External links

(official website)