Waterfront Park Near Me: Pelican Island Picnics at Pelican Harbor Park

Pelican Harbor Park, at 1275 NE 79th Street on the 79th Street Causeway off Miami's Upper Eastside, is the Miami-Dade County waterfront the county lists as Pelican Harbor Marina. It sits in Biscayne Bay between the mainland and North Bay Village, with boat ramps, wetslips and a short paddle to Pelican Island. Add the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station on the same grounds, and one causeway stop gives you boats, rescued pelicans and a picnic island in a single morning.

The park's story is tied to its birds. According to the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, Harry and Darlene Kelton moved their houseboat to the marina in 1980, spotted an injured brown pelican, removed a fishhook from its mouth and nursed it back to health. That rescue started the Seabird Station. The Miami Dade Parks Department later provided land, and in 1992 Miami Dade County built the current station building beside the docks.

County records fill in the marina's own timeline. A 2026 grant packet from Miami-Dade Parks lists 1989 funding for the design and construction of a recreational facility, 1990 funding for spoil island shelters, site furniture and wood walkways, and 1992 funding for a marine patrol building, fuel docks and fuel tanks. Later rounds replaced the Pelican Island day dock, renovated the boat ramp parking lot and paid for a first fishing pier phase in 2020.

Pelican Harbor Park is first a working county marina. Its boat ramps are open 24 hours, and the marina monitors VHF Channel 16 with Channel 68 as its working channel. From the ramps you can cruise the Intracoastal Waterway or run out to sea through Haulover Inlet to the north or Government Cut to the south. The marina accommodates vessels up to 50 feet and sells non-ethanol gas and diesel fuel at its fuel dock.

Kayakers and paddleboarders get their own route here. The county's Pelican Harbor Blueways guide maps a Pelican Island Tour of about 2 miles round trip, lasting one to two hours and rated novice to advanced. The route threads past Pelican, Osprey and Tern islands, all west of the Intracoastal Waterway. The same guide warns that the island has a single dock and that jet ski traffic shares the water, so paddlers should hug the island shorelines and stay visible.

Pelican Island is the standout spot of the park. The county describes it as a 10-acre island with covered picnic shelters, barbecue grills, picnic tables and a sand volleyball court, so bring your own net and ball. You reach it only by your own boat, kayak or paddleboard from the marina. The island is open to the public, and large groups can reserve it through the marina office. Grilling under a shelter while boats slide past on the Intracoastal is the classic Pelican Harbor afternoon.

The Pelican Harbor Seabird Station shares the marina grounds and gives the place much of its character. Founded in 1980 to care for injured brown pelicans, it now accepts native birds, mammals and reptiles, and injured wildlife can be dropped off at any hour, every day of the year. The station reports treating 2,209 patients from more than 131 native species in 2023, and over 43,000 patients since its start.

For visitors, the station runs seabird cruises and tours. Its calendar lists a November 13th Sunset Cruise departing from Pelican Harbor Seabird Station and a Thanksgiving Weekend Tour and Cruise on November 28th. Joining one is the simplest way to see the bay through the eyes of the people who rescue its birds, and it pairs naturally with a morning launch or an island picnic earlier the same day.

Timing matters at this ramp. Launch fees run $20 per day Monday through Thursday and $30 per day Friday through Sunday and on holidays, according to the county's 2025-2026 fee survey, so a weekday launch saves money. The marina office keeps hours of 8 am to 5 pm, seven days a week, which is the window for slip questions and island reservations. Boaters launching before dawn or after dark can still use the ramps.

A few rules shape the day. The mooring field and dinghy dock are by reservation only, and Pelican Island bookings for large groups go through the marina, which also quotes the island rates. Transient wetslip fees are charged per foot and do not include tax, starting at $2.45 per foot per day for boats up to 39 feet. Paddlers share the channel with powerboats, and the county guide flags jet ski traffic on the island route.

Beyond the island, the marina grounds have several corners worth knowing. The boat ramp parking lot, renovated in two grant-funded phases, is the busy heart of the park. A fishing pier was funded in a 2020 phase, wave attenuators protect the fuel dock and A Dock, and dredging work has deepened the water around D Dock. Under an April 21, 2026 county resolution, Miami-Dade is now seeking Florida Inland Navigation District grant money for a restroom building of about 1,000 square feet beside the ramps.

The closest stop is right next door. Pelican Harbor Seabird Station, at 1279 Northeast 79th Street, sits beside the marina, and a stroll past its aviaries is the natural first leg. The station traces its start to a fishhook pulled from a pelican's mouth, a good reminder to reel in loose line and bag old hooks before leaving the fish cleaning area or the end of the docks.

For a longer outing, head west along the causeway to the mainland and south into the Upper Eastside. Legion Park, at 6447 NE 7th Avenue, is a City of Miami bayfront park with a boat ramp, a playground and one of the neighborhood's well-known farmers markets. Its lawn and bay views make a calmer, land-based counterpoint to the open water and sun you get out on Pelican Island.

Pelican Harbor Park, at 1275 NE 79th Street, Miami, FL 33138, is listed by Miami-Dade County as Pelican Harbor Marina. Office hours are 8 am to 5 pm, seven days a week, and the boat ramps are open 24 hours. Launch and retrieve rates apply at the ramps, and the county directs visitors to the marina for slip sizes, wetslip rates and Pelican Island group rates.

Visitors without a car can ride Metrobus Route 79, which runs along NE 79th Street from the Biscayne Boulevard stop across the causeway to Miami Beach, or the weekday 79 Street MAX, a limited-stop route that serves North Bay Village. To plan a whole bayfront day around the ramps, the island and the Seabird Station, ask Karpo in the Karpo APP for a paddle and picnic route that starts at Pelican Harbor.