Boca Chita Key — Safe Harbor Before the Start of the Keys

Boca Chita Key, an Island Paradise!

Kismet is on the wall at Boca Chita Key. Twelve miles south of Key Biscayne sits this beautiful Bahamian-type island. It is part of Biscayne National Park and consists of 32 acres of land, a beach, and a harbor. It includes a beautiful 65-ft. ornamental lighthouse that sports an observation deck overlooking the beautiful harbor, nearby islands, Key Biscayne Bay, the ocean, Miami, and Key Biscayne Island. Down below the lighthouse sits an old canon salvaged off a nearby shipwreck. There is a nice hiking trail and picnic facilities with several grills. There is a little campground, an open-air pavilion, and saltwater restroom facilities. This island always makes us think we are in the Bahamas. We left Key Biscayne Key and Miami in our wake as we headed south to one of our favorite Florida islands, just north of Elliot Key and the start of the Florida Keys.

Over the years we have learned to time our arrival to Boca Chita Key to fall on a weekday. Since boaters from Miami and southern Florida tend to fill up the harbor on the weekends, making it is almost impossible to find a space on the wall. If you are looking for a more subdued experience and less of a party atmosphere, you’ll want to schedule your trip to fall on a weekday.

The harbor entrance depth is approximately four feet at low tide, it leads into a large well lined by a cleated wall, but no other amenities like water or electricity are available. Sorry, but if you have a pet, it is not only not allowed on the island, but not even on your boat in the harbor. Oddly enough as we were preparing to leave some boaters were frantically searching for their cat who had jumped ship the night before and was still missing. Visitors must take all of their own trash out with them when they leave as there are no services in place for hauling trash off the island of Boca Chita Key. A boater, or camper, must register to stay overnight on the island and there is a small $20 fee. We encountered many mosquitoes this trip, making it hard, when the wind died down, to stay outside for very long at the end of the day.

The photo (above) was taken on a previous trip to Boca Chita Key. That day the Park Ranger was visiting and he let us into the lighthouse so that we could see the view and take photos. This time around, our Ranger Tug, Kismet, looks good on the wall of Boca Chita Key.

   

   

The native coral rock was used to build most of the structures on Boca Chita Key.

   

Looks to us like a couple of very old boat ramps (above and below).