Your walk brings you to the southern tip of Miami Beach, where the island tapers to a point between the Atlantic Ocean and Government Cut, the shipping channel dredged in 1905 to give Miami's port access to the sea. South Pointe Park is a beautifully landscaped green space that replaced a cluster of aging condos and industrial facilities in the 2000s. From here you can watch massive container ships and cruise liners making their way through Government Cut, just a few hundred yards offshore, close enough to feel the displacement wake.
The fisher pier extends into the channel, and on any given morning you'll find serious anglers alongside joggers and families with strollers. Look back north and you can trace the entire arc of Miami Beach's development: the low-slung Art Deco hotels closest to you, the Mid-Century towers of South Beach's midsection, and the massive resort behemoths of Mid-Beach on the horizon. This park is also a reminder that Miami Beach is a barrier island, separated from the mainland by Biscayne Bay — a fact that shapes every conversation about the city's relationship to sea level rise.