The Florida Bay
is an inner-shelf lagoon: a shallow body of
water situated along the southern-most tip of
the Florida Peninsula. The Florida Bay is bordered
by the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Keys;
to the west of the Florida Bay one will find
the Gulf and to the south and east regions of
the Florida Bay one will find the Keys. The
Florida Bay consists of a combination of waters
– salt water steaming from the Gulf of
Mexico is mixed with the everglade’s fresh
water, creating an estuary that flows
between and around several hundred mangrove-islands.
Nestled between the Florida Keys and Florida’s
mainland, the Florida Bay has a plethora of
interconnected basins and each basin, on average,
is three feet deep. At its greatest depth, the
Florida Bay is nine feet deep. The shallow waters
of the Florida Bay make for some incredible
fishing opportunities.
The majority of the Florida
Bay is located within the confines of the
Everglades National Park and the Florida Bay,
as well as the Florida Keys are part of the
greater South Florida Ecosystem, and serves
as a splendid habitat for an incredible range
of wildlife and marine life. The South Florida
Ecosystem is a vast natural body, one consisting
of nearly 10,800 square miles that extend
from Orlando, Florida, all the way to the
Dry Tortugas. The Florida Bay region is the
habitat that also ideally serves as a nursery
for Caribbean Spiny Lobster, and Pink Shrimp.
The Florida Bay therefore supports the shrimp
and Dollar Stone Crab industries, a 59 million
dollar and a 29 million dollar industry respectively.
The Florida Bay is called the
“waterspout capital of the world”
and offers nearly 1,000 square miles of exploration:
the basins, grass lined mud banks, mangroves,
and mangrove islands serve as a habitat for
some fantastic marine and wild life. The mangrove
regions of the Florida Bay contain a variety
of tropical trees and shrubs, and some of
the mangrove regions are covered with overhanging
red mangroves or poisonwood. The natural and
almost mystical habitats of the Florida Bay
are breath taking. Within the Florida Bay
one can often spot the American crocodile,
the Loggerhead Turtle, Bottlenose Dolphin,
and the West Indian Manatee, as well as a
number of unique birds and game fish. The
visitor of the Florida Bay will have a chance
to appreciate a chance at spotting a Smooth-billed
Ani, the Short-Tailed Hawk, and wading Herons,
Egrets, Spoonbills or Ibises. Meanwhile, both
the avid and the neophyte angler will certainly
enjoy the opportunity to capture an array
of fantastic game fish including largemouth
bass, Redfish, Snook, Tarpon, and Snapper.
While mangroves lie throughout
the Florida Bay, one will also find willow
heads, hardwood hammocks, bay heads, marshes,
pinelands and cypress domes and the mixture
of the different habitats create a natural
world of surreal quality. The willow heads,
which often later evolve into bay heads or
hardwood hammocks, are a prime location for
spotting alligators. The Florida Bay also
has bay heads, surrounded by moats, where
turtles, reptiles and different mammals often
live. The marsh regions of the Florida Bay
are both in the freshwater and saltwater varieties,
and are home to several different species
of shorebirds and waterfowl. Meanwhile, the
hardwood hammocks in the Florida Bay are home
to animals like opossum, panthers, bobcats,
fox and deer. The pinelands within the Florida
Bay region are also home to a number of animals,
including owls, bears, snakes, raccoons and
an assortment of birds. Finally, the cypress
domes are dome-like islands that form in the
various limestone depressions that fill with
water – a well-known haunt of the alligator.
