A Half-Day Sail on a No-Engine Catamaran in Biscayne Bay
Sail from Coconut Grove to Biscayne Bay's sandbars and mangrove islets on a catamaran limited to five guests.
Miami sells plenty of boat rides. This one is defined by a part it leaves out. The catamarans that push off from the Coconut Grove waterfront carry no engine, and the trip runs on whatever the wind is doing that day.
Each boat carries five guests and a captain, and the operator runs two of them. A group of eight or ten gets split across both hulls, and the two boats stop together at the same sandbar.
Where you end up is not fixed. The listed stops are sandbars, mangrove islets and the water around Key Biscayne, and the operator says it sometimes adds Miami landmarks on top of that.
Departures are at 10:00 in the morning and at 3:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon, seven days a week on the booking calendar. The booking runs three and a half hours. On its own site the company puts the time on the water at three to four hours, and says it stretches the trip when there is wildlife worth watching.
Travelers report setting off behind schedule often enough to plan for it. Leave the rest of the evening loose.
Prices move with the date, and each age band carries its own fare. Adults, youths, seniors and children each book at their own figure, and on some dates an infant riding on an adult’s lap is listed at no charge. The lowest adult fare currently showing is USD 129.
Sail Biscayne Bay: An Intimate Eco-Adventure with SnorkelingFlorida Ocean Clean-up Society · five travelers per boat · rated 4.9 from 468 reviews · from USD 129www.viator.comWhat the Trapeze Wire Is For
The fleet is Hobie catamarans, the small beach-launched kind with two narrow hulls and a mesh deck strung between them. The operator describes them as designed with surfing in mind, and says their size is what lets the boats reach corners of the bay that deeper hulls cannot.
The wire running down from the mast is a trapeze. Clipped into a harness, a passenger can lean out over the water and use their own weight to hold the boat flat when the breeze builds. Nobody is required to touch it. Life vests, dry bags for phones and wallets, and snorkeling gear all come with the boat.
The listing puts the trip at all physical fitness levels, and infants ride on an adult’s lap. The company is more specific on its own site: the boats are too small to take a wheelchair. It also spells out what happens when the wind dies, which is that the captain paddles in when the shore is close and calls for a tow when it is not.
Where a Shallow Hull Can Get To
The itinerary names Biscayne National Park, Key Biscayne and the Cape Florida Lighthouse. The company’s own site adds Nixon’s Sandbar, Dinner Key and what it calls a secret mangrove forest. The boat stops and people get into the water.
Snorkeling is optional and the gear is on board. The company says it regularly spots dolphins, manatees, pelicans, starfish and nurse sharks, and stops short of promising any of them on a given afternoon. Read that line as written. A bay is not an aquarium.
Water, sodas, fruit and crackers come with the trip, and there is a cooler for whatever you bring. Alcohol is not included. The listing says you are welcome to bring your own drinks and food.
Two Captains and a Nonprofit
The listing credits the experience to the Florida Ocean Clean-up Society, and that organization checks out. Federal filings list Florida Ocean Clean-up Society Inc under EIN 47-2282209, with 501(c)(3) tax exemption issued in February 2016 and Form 990-EZ returns on record through the 2023 financial year. The same filing names David Furer as president and Juan P Ortega as a board member.
Those two are the captains. They run the sailing side under the name Salty Miami, and their own pages say they came from Argentina and Venezuela, have lived in Miami for more than twenty years, and have been sailing Biscayne Bay for more than a decade. The product listing puts that last figure at fifteen years. The smaller number is the one they print themselves.
Two boats, five seats each, and the owners often on the tiller. Travelers name a handful of other captains as well. Treat meeting a founder as likely without counting on it.
Text Them the Day Before
The operator asks every traveler to send a text message the day before the session to get a weather update. That reply can move your start to an earlier time, a later time, or a different day, and travelers say it is also how the exact meeting spot reaches them. The listing puts the reason simply: weather can be unpredictable.
Booking closes four hours before the start time, and confirmation is immediate. Booked through the link on this page, the twenty-four hour rule applies: cancel a full day out and you are covered, cancel inside that window and you are not. The company advertises a shorter twelve-hour window on its own site, which is what applies to bookings made directly with it.
If a session is called off for weather, the company’s stated practice is to try a reschedule first and refund in full when that fails. An adult has to be on the booking.
The listing puts the meeting point at the Peacock Park waterfront in Coconut Grove, beside the paddle board rental, at 2820 McFarlane Road. The company’s own site names a different Coconut Grove launch site, Shake a Leg Miami, and travelers say the exact spot comes through in the day-before text. Go by that text and your confirmation. Public transport runs nearby, which the listing states directly.
Bring a towel and clothes you do not mind soaking. Travelers are consistent that everyone aboard gets wet. Phones and wallets go into the dry bags that come with the boat.
Three or four hours later you are back on the same stretch of shoreline, salt-dried and a little wind-burnt, with the rest of the day still open.