Adventures of Boreas: Day 239 – Boca Chita Key, FL to anchorage at Marine Stadium, Miami, FL

We have a short travel day planned, making our way to an anchorage called Marine Stadium in Miami just fifteen miles up Biscayne Bay from Boca Chita Key. The anchorage in Marine Stadium was recommended to us by our Gold Looper friends Ron and Jan from Jolly Tolly. They told us that this anchorage has the best view of the Miami skyline at night.

On the way to our anchorage we passed Stiltsville, a group of buildings just a mile or so south of Key Biscayne. Stiltsville dates back to the 1930s when the first shack was built on stilts above the water. At its peak in 1960, there were 27 structures on the flats, but hurricanes, fires and being in such an exposed place made every building relatively short-lived. Hurricane Andrew in 1992 left only seven buildings standing. There is now a non-profit organization working to preserve the structures so they can help showcase the richness of the Biscayne National Park’s marine resources.

We were anchored in Marine Stadium by 2:30pm and spent the afternoon enjoying the view. We also enjoyed watching youth and young adult crew teams practicing their rowing. There were teams at all different skill levels making circles around the anchorage – some rowing as fast as a small row boat up on plane and other obviously at the beginning of their learning curve.

This anchorage is named after the 6,566 seat grandstand built here in 1963. From 1963 to 1992 the stadium hosted many events – boat races, concerts on a floating stage, political rallies, TV shows and movies. The following description of the stadium is from the Friends of Miami Marine Stadium website (www.marinestadium.org). “Poured entirely in concrete, with a hyperbolic parabaloid roof structure, it consists of a dramatically cantilevered folded-plate roof supported by eight big slanted columns anchored in the ground through the grandstand.” I just couldn’t resist putting the words “hyperbolic” and “parabaloid” in the blog – I guess it’s an engineer thing.

As advertised, Marine Stadium was a great place to see the Miami skyline at night. Although our camera doesn’t take very good night pictures (not sure if it’s the camera or the operators) you can get the general idea from the pictures below.

Miles: 15.5 Bridges: 1 Locks: 0