Honeymoon Island on BeachHunter.net |
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Honeymoon IslandLocated in Dunedin, Florida, Honeymoon Island is home to Honeymoon Island State Park. It attracts more than 700,000 visitors each year and is a welcome respite from the congestion of Pinellas County. Honeymoon Island features a long undeveloped shoreline, half of which is a sandy beach, and the other half is virgin pine forest marsh, mangrove, and grass flats off-limits to motor boats. Honeymoon Island is a perfect place to enjoy a kayak trip, especially since it is so close to Caladesi Island. Birding, shelling, fishing, hiking, biking, beaching, strolling: it's all here on Honeymoon Island. There is an excellent nature center with an observation deck overlooking the tidal flats where birdwatching is excellent. Honeymoon Cafe offers food and drink overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and the wedding and reception facilities are excellent. The south facing beaches are excellent for shelling.
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Helpful links:
http://www.sailhoneymoon.com
- Rent a kayak or sailboat at Sail Honeymoon located on the left side of
the causeway just before the entrance to the park. Caladesi Island Ferry - information on and photos of the ferry to Caladesi Island. |
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Honeymoon Island is shaped rather like a lobster claw. The entrance from the Dunedin Causeway is at lower right. Roads only provide access to about half the island. The shallow bay to the right of the island is off limits to boats with motors. The right side of the "lobster claw" is virgin pine forest. Great Horned owls can be heard calling even during the day. Since they are such large birds, they are fairly easy to spot sitting high in a pine tree. |
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Main Beach is where I would recommend taking your family to the beach. The parking lot is huge, the snack bar and restrooms are close by, the sand is soft and white, and there is a great view of Caladesi Island just across Hurricane Pass. There is also a doggy beach nearby so you can take snoopy to the beach. |
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The road only provides access to half the island. The rest is hiking trails or beach. As you can see from the photo at left, native vegetation rules the island. No hibiscus here. |
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The island has modern, clean restroom facilities. This building is located at the parking area providing access to the sandspit beach. Shoes are needed to traverse this rocky moonscape. |
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The initial impression of sandspit beach is that this is where NASA stores all those rocks they brought back from the moon. You have to walk up the beach for about 15 minutes to get to a sandy shoreline. Note that the greenery of Caladesi Island can be seen across the water, and to its right are the condominiums of Clearwater Beach and Sand Key. Quite a contrast. |
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Looking down the sandspit beach. The further you walk along the shore, the fewer rocks there are, until finally you can remove your shoes and enjoy a white sandy beach. |
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After walking fifteen minutes or so, the rocky shoreline gives way to a nice quiet sand beach. |
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A virgin pine forest occupies a large part of Honeymoon Island. Here it can be seen from sand spit beach. |
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Looking down the very quiet sand spit beach after walking for about forty minutes or so. |
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The end of the sand spit beach narrows to a point. Low beach grasses, swooping birds, and the feeling that you have, for a moment, left it all behind makes us appreciate the reason for preserving places like this. |
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A beautiful red sponge washed up on the beach at Honeymoon Island. |
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A collection of a few of the shells I found on a morning walk along the sand spit beach. I was surprised to find so many nice shells on the beach here. |
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To find out all the important details about all the beaches on the lower Gulf Coast of Florida, consider purchasing my book: Florida Beaches - Finding Your Paradise on the Lower Gulf Coast. It covers all the beaches from Dunedin to Marco Island, more than 96 named beaches. It has 176 pages, 25 maps, and 48 black and white photographs. |
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