Let’s visit Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys 🙂 .
I’ve sorted literally thousands of digital photos over the past few days from our Florida Keys road trip last week, and could NOT decide where to continue with my blog series about the trip. We had so many fun adventures, just looking through the photos was a little overwhelming. I finally decided that since I began the series last week with the Card Sound Bridge entry into the Keys, I would continue with another historic bridge ~ and we’ll just see where things go after that ~~~
Bahia Honda means “deep bay” in Spanish and is in the lower Keys ~ the State Park entrance is at MM 37 Oceanside. Founded in 1961 the park is over 500 acres and occupies most of the island.

yes ~ the view is spectacular any time, any day, any weather ~~~
There’s camping, boating and trail hiking on the island, with plenty of park facilities to take care of basic needs. There are beaches on both the ocean and bay sides, and you will definitely want chairs and an umbrella for shade if you plan to stay very long. Water quality varies, but it’s shallow and makes for easy snorkeling.
Along with beautiful beaches, the main attraction is the scenic and historic Bahia Honda Rail Bridge. Originally part of Henry Flagler’s Overseas Railway (constructed from 1905-1912), the state of Florida purchased the bridge and converted it to automotive use as part of the original Overseas Highway project, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 severely damage the railway. A portion of the bridge span was removed to ease boating, as the new bridge is taller than the old scenic bridge. The new four-lane bridge was built in 1980 just north of the old bridge, replacing the old US 1 route. I love this photo where you can see the bridges almost come together!

the old railway bridge & the new US1 bridge ALMOST come together ~~~
We spent the afternoon snorkeling and enjoying the beach on our way traveling down from Islamorada to Key West. Bluwaterguy used his camera housing to take photos in the water, including our obligatory “floating feet” shot 🙂 . Can’t get a more scenic backdrop than this for happy floating feet!

these are some happy floating feet ~~~
This was one afternoon on our 10 day road trip, so you can imagine how many things I plan to write about for the series here on the blog! I’m going to post a bit of the journey and our adventures each week in no particular order, along with other post topics. (Gotta have some cocktails, snacks and style too!) I’ll use the #flkeys tag in the post titles for easy searching, and include links to series posts along the way.
This is one of the nicest things about the blog ~ I get to capture the moments for my “life enjoyed” bucket, and then go back and visit them when the mood strikes me ~ and share them with you! I hope you’ll enjoy the journey as I post it here in the series. There are more pictures on my Instagram page, and I’ll be adding a photo album to the Facebook page too.
This was a really special road trip for my 20 years of traveling to the Keys ~ and oh yeah, my 5 years of blogging here on bluwaterlife! You could say this was my anniversary gift to myself ~ and you would be right ~ but I’ll share it here with you! Let’s go ~~~
Dora says
I think the feet picture is my favorite – lol. I can almost feel the water and sand myself!
bluwatergal says
We always take the “floating feet” photo Dora, and they make me laugh too. I have a pretty good collection of them ~ hmmm, maybe I can do a post just on the traveling floating feet 🙂 Bwg ~~~
Vicki and Jennifer says
Bobbi-
I can’t thank you enough for bringing my childhood memories come to life! I traveled over this old bridge – as well as the new one- many, many times! So glad you are sharing this fabulous series with us…a great treat!
Vicki
bluwatergal says
We need to compare notes Vicki ~ I know we have some of the same memories and I bet there are some good stories in there! Glad you enjoy our travels along with us! Bwg ~~~
Lisa says
Bobbi, You don’t know how much I enjoy your photos and travels. I grew up boating and on the water with my dad and brother so it makes me happy when I see you pics. I’m so glad you had a great time and can’t wait to see more. Love the feet in water pic. xo Lisa
bluwatergal says
Lisa ~ sounds like we are both waters souls 🙂 So glad the pics give you a smile (even our floating feet!) and you are enjoying our travels. More to come! Bwg ~~~
CoCo says
This looks like such an amazing trip Bobbi! I am so excited for you. The photos are amazing. I feel like I’m right there with you. Thanks so much for sharing. Big hugs, Coco
bluwatergal says
Thanks Coco! Glad you enjoyed it :-). Now if I can encourage Bluwaterguy to edit our video we can share that too! Bwg ~~~