We heard about the beautiful beaches of the Bahia Honda State Park, so we decided to check them out. We didn’t plan any specific activities, but we hoped to spend some time at the beach, do some snorkeling and visit the historic bridge there. In the picture below is a view of Caruso beach from the old Bahia Honda bridge.
It was a scenic 15 minute drive from our hotel at Little Torch Key to Bahia Honda State Park over a long line of bridges surrounded by turquoise water.
As soon as we entered the park we noticed a sign stating that snorkeling is cancelled due to the recent storm. Weather was warm and sunny, but with strong winds.
Bahia Honda State Park is located on the island of Bahia Honda Key situated in the lower Florida Keys 12 miles (19 km) west of Marathon, close to the west end of the Seven Mile Bridge. Bahia Honda means Deep Bay in Spanish.
It is a small Florida state park, but has the unique claim (like most things in the keys) of being Florida’s southernmost state park. Inside the park, there is a number of beautiful, white sand beaches, hiking trails, a nature center, and some local history surrounding railroad magnate Henry Flagler.
Bahia Honda island is surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico from the North and the Atlantic Ocean from the South. Bahia Honda Key State Beach contains three beaches in all—on both the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. We visited Caruso beach situated on the Gulf of Mexico, and Sandspur beach situated on the Atlantic Ocean. Sandspur Beach, the largest, is regularly declared the best beach in the Florida Keys.
Hoping to spend some time in the water, we decided to explore the island’s beaches. We parked our car and walked to the nearest beach – Caruso beach. It is a comparatively small beach with fine white sand and calm water. This beach is located near the old bridge, which is depicted in the picture below. It was crowded and a little chilly, so we decided to start with the Old Bridge trail first.
The Old Bahia Honda Bridge Trail begins with climbing a dune from the parking lot. The hike is very short, about 0.2 miles.
We bumped into a cute open air movie theatre on our way to the bridge.
But the most exiting moment was seeing a large iguana on the top of a tree at the very beginning of the trail. This is my favorite picture from our trip to the Florida Keys. Dave did a good job with the telephoto lens.
Hiking up the dune provides several overlooks over both sides of the island before reaching the bridge. The view from the bridge is incredible! See for yourself.
In more modern times, the park was part of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railway holdings. The railroad to Key West was started in 1905 and was jokingly referred to as “Flagler’s Folly.” It was eventually completed in 1912 but later destroyed by a hurricane in 1935. The railroad remains were converted into what is known today as U.S. Highway 1. Presently, the Old Bahia Honda Bridge serves as a reminder of Flagler’s dream. The bridge offers visitors a panoramic view of the island and surrounding waters (from Wikipedia).
Behind me is the new Bahia Honda bridge. The channel between the old and new Bahia Honda bridges is one of the deepest natural channels in the Florida Keys.
Here are a couple pictures of Caruso Beach and the new Bahia Honda bridge taken from the Old Bahia Honda bridge.
Here is the disconnected part of the old bridge in the photo below. The Bahia Honda Rail Bridge is a disused bridge connecting Bahia Honda Key with Spanish Harbor Key. The State of Florida purchased and converted it to provide automobile use as part of the Overseas Highway in 1938. After a replacement Bahia Honda Bridge was opened in 1972, two spans of the bridge were removed to accommodate boat traffic and make the majority of the bridge inaccessible to pedestrian traffic, but the rest remains standing (from Wikipedia).
Walking on Sandspur beach along the ocean side. Beautiful white sand was covered for the most part with seaweed after the storm. I think I took a picture with the most seaweed on the beach. 🙂 It was very windy there, just look at the palm trees.
Obviously, our water activities were not going to happen, so Dave and I decided to walk around the park. We stopped at the Butterfly garden. I posted a few pictures of the trees which I found interesting. Here is the Thatch Palm fronds of which have been used for thatch material to make chickee huts. Don’t they look pretty atop the beach umbrellas?
Bay Bean trees are known for their edible flowers. I tested stuffed Bay bean flowers on one of the presentations. They tasted better than I thought they would.
The bark of Gumbo Limbo trees seems to resemble peeling sunburnt skin. An Aloe plant would compliment it perfectly. 😉
Then we enjoyed lunch at one of the beach restaurants in Marathon. Overall, we had a good time there. It would have been even better if the weather was more cooperative with us. It would be nice to do some snorkeling there.
