Bahia Honda State Park

Mile 36.85 - Bahia Honda Key, Florida
- Friday, December 7, 2007

As of Dember 7, 2007 at 9:30 AM

Steps: 85143
Miles: 36.17

Firstly, I want to say something about the word "Key" as it is used in the "Florida Keys". A key is a small, low coastal island or emergent reef of sand or coral. The word key is a corruption of the Spanish word "cayo." And strangely enough, "cayo" is a Spanish word of Celtic origin. So my being part Irish might explain my affinity for the Keys and for this Key in particular.

Now for explaining the name of this key, "Bahia Honda." No, this is not an ad for a Japanese car, although you probably can't go too wrong if you "Buy a Honda." It is Spanish for "deep bay" and locally pronounced: BAY-ah HON-da.

Bahia Honda State Park occupies most of the land on tiny Bahia Honda Key, about 38 miles east of Key West. The park is 524 acres. The entire Key (island) is roughly 600 acres. It is known primarily for its scenery and beaches.

Judge for yourself. And don't blame me for not wanting to walk on....



This bridge is known as the Seven-Mile Bridge as it is 7 miles (a day's walk) long and the longest bridge in the Keys. Anyone see the movie "True Lies" (1994) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis? This is the bridge that gets "blown up" and was actually blown up for real (the old bridge, not the new one!) because it was unsafe and they wanted to sever it from the Key so people wouldn't walk on it (and soap opera stars wouldn't drive on it?)

The train, back in the day, used to go through the beams and rode at the lower level.

There is a 3 foot iguana that lives in the shrubs to the left in this picture. I came out of the water to the right (the Florida Bay) spread out my towel and nearly tripped over him (or her). My Dad and I, when we visit this Key, make a point of looking for the iguanas now.

The Everglades are about 50 miles north (to the right in the picure) across a bay that is mostly no deeper than 15 feet.



The railroad train used to go over a high bridge here because the Bahia Honda, true to its name is a deep bay (the deeper the water / channel, the higher the bridge to clear the effects of hurricanes and other bad weather.) When the railroad closed down after a hurricane that destroyed it, they built a road on top of the bridge (this is the old Route 1 bridge.)



Even a die-hard SpongeBob SquarePants fan like me, sees something like this when someone says "Bikini Bottom".

Official State Park Website has lots of great photos on the park's visitor's photos page