Ten Things to Do on Virginia Key

For the tourist, transient and truly curious (willing to venture past the neighborhood mall), here are ten things to do on Virginia Key:

Eat. There are several restaurants, a few arepa/hot dog stands and a smoked fish joint: Rusty Pelican, the new Rickenbacker Fish Company, Bayside Hut, Jimbo’s and the  Hobie Beach stands. Or bring a picnic lunch. Best views are just about anywhere from the island out to aquamarine waters that surround it.

Sail. Hobie Beach has the rental boards. You’ll see the bright sails rustling in the sea breezes along the Rickenbacker Causeway. Or bring your own kayak, canoe, paddleboard. The water is crystal clear and teeming with fascinating critters.

Run/Walk. This is not just for the Brickell crowd. Park you car anywhere along the causeway parking lots and hike up the William Powell bridge (top of the Rickenbacker) and marvel at the Miami sky line to the north, the expanse of Biscayne Bay blue to the south. Particularly marvelous at sunset but inspiring anytime.

Hike. There’s an amazing Tropical Hammock to be discovered on Virginia Key and you don’t need a botany degree or birder’s eye to appreciate. Entrance off Virginia Key Beach (windsurfer’s beach across from the Miami-Dade South Water Treatment Facility - but don’t let that bother you from hiking).

Marvel.  At the icon of modern architecture, the Commodore Ralph Munroe Marine Stadium. It’s a sad mess right now but with lots of potential.

Amuse yourself. On the historic carousel and seaside train ride operating on weekends at the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (entrance at the light across from University of Miami’s Rosensteil School just before the Bear Cut Bridge).

Fish. The fishing pier (old, closed bridge off the causeway) is open again. Can’t guarantee a catch but you might regain your serenity waiting for a bite.

Swim. OK it’s winter but if you’re from New York you won’t mind the surf temps.

Bird. As in check out the migrating songbirds in the hammock, shorebirds on the dunes.
   
Relax. It’s an island. A wilderness. A world away from that neighborhood mall.

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No fishing or cutting bait off Virginia Key

Imagine a Miami where:
-conservation and critical habitat are protected;
-streets become tree-lined boulevards and parkways;
-cultural and historical sites are protected, maintained and promoted;
-the public has equitable access to lakes, beaches and other major natural features;
-parks are models for sustainable development and,
-you can fish without a boat.

Those are some of the concepts that would flow from the principles behind the “Parks and Open Space System Master Plan” developed by Miami-Dade County Parks for all parks, public spaces, natural areas, greenways, blueways and trails in the county.

Everything, except the fishing part. That I added because it seems the right to fish should be an inalienable one in a waterfront community. Of course it’s not, particularly in the Biscayne Bay-Rickenbacker Corridor, where police are sometimes seen rustling people off the Bear Cut bridge.

It wasn’t always this way. A news photo from the early days after the Rickenbacker opened in the late 1940's showed people casting bait into the Bear Cut channel. And Virginia Key Beach once had a fishing pier. Now, even with a boat, you can’t go off fishing from Virginia Key unless you rent a slip there, as the only public boat ramp on the island was closed years ago.

People do fish off the old, now closed half of the Rickenbacker bridge. Officially, it's a fishing pier, though sometimes it feels a bit forlorn and forbidding -- particularly in the mid-day sun, when only a scrappy few try their luck amid the chipped concrete and weathered walkways.

Which is maybe why the City of Miami consultants came up with a spiffy new design for a fishing pier in the earlier version of the Virginia Key Master Plan (see artists rendering above). It was so fancy and outlandish it wasn't well-received, to say the least. One city board member said he felt he would need a tuxedo to go fishing there. Which may be why that particular rendering was never seen again.

Imagine a Miami where people can fish without a boat. What a concept.

Resources: See the Parks and Open Space Master Plan at
http://www.miamidade.gov/greatparksummit/library/OSMP_FINAL_REPORT_entiredocument.pdf