One causeway has carried you onto Brickell Key, a small island in Biscayne Bay tied to the Brickell mainland and one of Miami's more peculiar residential environments. The island was originally called Claughton Island, named for an early developer, and was essentially a mangrove-covered spoil island — land created from the dredge material that deepened the bay channel. It was developed in the 1970s and 1980s as a luxury residential enclave, a gated community in the middle of the bay with spectacular views in every direction.
Today Brickell Key contains several residential towers, a hotel, and a small retail strip, all connected by a bayside promenade that loops the entire island. That promenade walk is the reason to come here: a mile of waterfront path with views across to the Pérez Art Museum and Museum Park to the north, the Port of Miami to the east, and the Brickell skyline to the west. In the morning, before the heat sets in, it is one of the most pleasant walks in Miami.
The island also makes the implicit argument of all of Miami visible: this is a city built on water, dredged from the bay, and dependent on the continued goodwill of the sea.