A Day in Bahia Honda State Park

Day 23: Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Morning at Bahia Honda anchorage

Despite our loss of yesterday, today was a very good day.  We were both up early after a restless night’s sleep.  We made pancakes and bacon along with a glass of V-8 Juice.

We made some phone calls and then climbed into the Dink to go to the Bahia Honda State Park.  It had been touted by a friend as one of the more interesting places in the Keys and we found that to be the case.  We motored under the Highway 1 Bridge and entered the tiny harbor that was reported to have 19 slips for transient boaters.  The slips turned out to be a length of wall along which one could tie

Dock masters bldg in Bahia Honda State Park

up. 

The building at the edge of the harbor had a sign advertising the office of the Harbor Master so we made our first stop there.  We had a small bag of trash to drop and had noticed a sign stating that there was a fee for trash disposal from visiting boaters so we needed to settle up.  Inside the building which also served as a snack shop,ice cream shop, kayak rental shop and harbor masters quarters, I asked for the harbor master.  An interesting young man said that he or one of the two girls working in the kayak rental shop served in that capacity.  I told him where we

One of the beaches from the Flager Bahia Honda Channel Bridge

had tied up the Dink and he said that would be fine.  I also told him that I had a small bag and he said that they normally charge $1.00 per bag but since my bag was so small and they were about to empty the receptacles soon anyway, we could just throw ours in. 

We started our tour of the park with a scoop of chocolate almond fudge ice cream each and upon finishing it, we both agreed that it was very good.

From there we walked over to the beautiful white sand beach which is touted to be the best beach in the Keys.  There were already numerous people of all shapes and sizes in all forms of swim wear lounging and swimming in the cool waters.  The sun was bright as were the brilliant white sands. 

As we walked along beside the beach grass, we came upon a scroungey looking bird that was facing us with his wings spread in what appeared be a drying stance.  Its breast feathers were all fluffed and straggly.  As we got closer and I started taking pictures, the bird became, I assume somewhat self-conscious and folded its wings, smoothed down its breast feathers and took on the respectable

Historic Flagler Bahia Honda Channel Railway Bridge with highway built on top

pose of a beautiful little blue heron.

We continued our walk until we came to an overlook of the original Flagler Bahia Honda Channel Bridge.  I later found out that the bridge was the only bridge built with a super structure design.  It was built this way out of concern for the trains and its passengers safety as it crossed the deep channel.  They assumed that the structure would keep the train from falling off of the bridge in case of a derailment.

Flagler Bridge showing the superstructure with road added on top

After the hurricane of 1935, the railroad bridge was abandoned and purchased by the state of Florida.  They were building a road using many of the old rail bridges for their highway, however, the Bahia Honda Bridge was too narrow so they added a superstructure and roadway over the top of the original super structures.  According to the naturalist, the road was so narrow that in order for two trucks to pass, they both had to fold in their mirrors to prevent their damage.

We spent a good bit of time in the Park’s Nature Center where an enthusiastic

Butterfly guarden

naturalist spent time telling of the fauna and flora of the park.  She had a lion fish in an aquarium and talked about the invasion of this voracious species.  Her comment was that we were its only predator and that they were taking over and destroying the native population on the reefs.  She also commented that, although they have poisonous glands on the tip of many of their fins, they were quite etable and tasty.  She provided us with a list of about 30 restaurants in southern Florida that serve lion fish on their menu.

We then wandered up onto the roadbed of the old highway on the Flagler Bridge.  The view as spectacular and the structure was interesting.  It was lunch time so we headed for the snack bar and Janine ordered a tuna wrap and I had a ham and cheese sub.  Both sandwiches were huge.  I managed to devour mine but Janine left half of hers behind.

We sat in the shade and did some serious people watching for a while before we set

Popular beach on south side of the Key

out on a trip through their butterfly garden.  We didn’t see many of the lepidopterans but the plants with the descriptive signs were most interesting. 

We finally headed back to Second Wind. We decided that our current location, although interesting, was too close to Highway 1 and that noise that the traffic created. So we weighed anchor and headed 5 miles north to one of the Johnson Keys.  From what we could see on the chart, this little Key could possibly give us some skin diving fun on some coral.  The wind was completely nonexistent giving us a glassy smooth see over which to travel.  In the shallow waters, one can see the bottom as though there is no water over it.  There is little more than sea vegetation and sponges that

Sponge and bottom vegetation taken through the clear water from the boat

we could see but still it was interesting. 

After dropping anchor, I donned my skin diving gear and went for a refreshing swim.  The water is refreshingly cool and quite a relief from the 80 plus degree of windless heat.

For dinner, we began with our hors d’oeuvres of kipper snacks on crackers.  For our main course, we had sweet Italian sausages from the grill accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes and French cut green beans.  For desert, we polished off the remaining pieces of carrot cake. We were

filled to the gills.

After dinner, we relaxed on the deck of the boat before retiring at around 9:00.  It was a good day.