A little over a mile off the coast, nestled in Biscayne Bay, with a breathtaking view of the city of Miami, is a hidden Florida gem called Stiltsville; a group of seven houses built on pilings/stilts on the flats of the north end of Biscayne National Park, just south of the tip of Key Biscayne. To be able to visit one of these houses you either have to apply for a permit, be an owner, or be friends with someone who is. I happen to fall in the later category as my great friend Rach's hubs is a member of the Miami Springs Power Boat Club, which own one of the houses, and they took us there this past weekend for a "camping" trip. If you were too lazy to click on the Wiki link above to learn more about the houses, here are some pics which make telling about them a little easier:
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| Arrival via boat |
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| Our view of the other houses and Miami |
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I used my map locator to take these screen shots
and the satellite feature even had an aerial view! |
I have been out to Stiltsville a few times in the past, but this was Spike and a few of my Orlando/Sarasota friends' first time; I loved seeing their faces light up as the houses started appearing on the horizon and reliving the experience of a first visit through their excitement when we finally arrived. By chance alone we lucked out and had the place all to ourselves, a first thanks to the questionable weather throughout most of the morning, but our persistence paid off!
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| Empty docks, unheard of in the summer! |
We spent the rest of the day grilling out, playing in the water, on the waterslide, jumping off the railings/roof, fishing, enjoying adult beverages, and just generally relaxing and taking in the view of the sunset. The bottom level is completely open, giving a panoramic view, and the second level is a large enclosed room, kinda like a barrack, that is really only used for storage, sleeping, and escaping inclement weather. (There are also two working bathrooms and fresh water showers [boiled rain water] a generator for electricity, although we never flipped it on because the solar powered lights were more than sufficient for what we needed.)
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| Good times, great friends |
That night, after some shark fishing and drinking games, we finally retired to the upper decks to sleep, the weather having been too perfect to sleep indoors. Because it's so far out in the bay, it's quiet as can be with only the sounds of the occasional marine life swimming or flying about and come early morning, we woke to this beautiful sunrise:
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| Breathtaking! |
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| Love how this shot turned out of the back deck |
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| So serene |
After grilling up some breakfast, other members of the club started to arrive, so we cleaned up, enjoyed a little more fun in the sun, and then called it a trip. We cannot wait to go back next year, as it was unanimously decided it should become an annual event.
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Love these peeps!
(And yes, I know I seriously need a tan.) |
And that is that, a runless weekend worth blogging about if only because the locale is too awesome not to share. If you ever get a chance to visit this crazy cool place, make sure you do! There are charters in the area that give tours around all the houses, which I've heard are pretty neat. You can also learn more about them HERE and HERE.
I hope you enjoyed the photos and had great weekends yourselves! Now I'm off to prepare for tonight's weekly running of the H.U.R.T., we finally have some good weather and I'm excited to go ONE MILE! :)
