Sight · Biscayne National Park
Three moorings mark reef water from 16 to 57 feet.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Biscayne Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Biscayne National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Star Reef is an offshore coral reef in Biscayne National Park, marked by three park mooring buoys. There is no road or shore approach to the reef; the visit is by boat. Park-guided trips offer snorkeling at coral reefs, but public trip information does not identify Star Reef as a regular destination, so confirm the site with an operator before booking.
The three buoys sit in water listed at 16, 57 and 21 feet. Those are depths at the moorings, not a full profile for one continuous reef. One boat may use a buoy for up to four hours. Approach slowly and read the water carefully; many mooring sites are shallow enough for a careless approach to damage the bottom. Keep another destination in mind in case a buoy is damaged or missing.
Coral polyps build cup-shaped skeletons from calcium in seawater, and new generations grow over earlier colonies. Different coral colonies build the reef together; soft corals sway with the current, while sponges filter tiny organisms from the water. Biscayne’s reefs support more than 500 reef-fish species across the park, but that park-wide count does not say what you will see at Star Reef.
Wildlife
201 sightingsWest Indian ManateeMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
154 sightingsAmerican CrocodileMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
15 sightingsBurmese PythonMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
17 sightingsTamanend's Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
23 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
146 sightingsGreat BarracudaMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Biscayne. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
Sight · 2 mi awayLedbury ReefThree marked moorings define this offshore reef stop for boaters.
Sight · 2.7 mi awayBrewster ReefBoat-only drift diving over branching coral and a reef drop-off.
Sight · 3.6 mi awayTriumph ReefA boat-only reef with shallow and deeper mooring stops.
Sight · 3.9 mi awayTracy ReefA shallow-water reef stop with a designated boat mooring.
Sight · 4 mi awayBache ShoalAn offshore reef stop for snorkeling and shallow-water diving.
Sight · 4.4 mi awayFowey Rocks LighthouseA historic reef lighthouse best seen from the water.
Sight · 4.5 mi awayArratoon Apcar WreckA shallow steamer wreck with coral-covered iron ribs to explore
Campground · 4.6 mi awayBoca Chita Key CampgroundRustic boat-in camping by a landmark lighthouse and island trail.Parkwolf’s Biscayne ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
