Persistence Pays Off

In early 2023, The Colonel and I would get up in the morning, turn on his computer and my iPad, go to the Florida State Park website for Bahia Honda State Park in particular and hit the refresh button repeatedly. We wanted to rent one of the 6 cabins there. They are very much in demand and are difficult to rent. We did this for about five days before our persistence paid off. 

We accepted whatever dates we could get. The dates happened to be March 22-26 of 2024. We invited my sister Jennifer and her husband Jim to join us.

After the many months of waiting, it was time to head to Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key. The Colonel and I traveled in our truck and Jennifer and Jim in theirs. We met them at a grocery store near Bahia Honda where we would load up on groceries for our stay in the cabin. There was a Key deer walking around the parking lot. Key deer are a subspecies of white-tailed deer, and they live only in the Florida Keys. They are the smallest North American deer species. The males usually weight about 55-75 pounds and females 44-64 pounds. They are endangered. 

When all the groceries were packed, we headed to Bahia Honda State Park. We pulled up to the Ranger's booth and were told to park our vehicles and come inside. There, we had to register and pay for our stay.

We stayed in cabin #5. It was very nice and clean. Linens were provided. It had two bedrooms, one full bath, a full kitchen and little living/dining area inside. There was a little porch with a bench outside on the upper deck (parking was below). There was a wooden deck with a picnic table and a grill below, along the waterside. We would see several fish every day from our deck, especially parrotfish.

One of the main reasons we wanted to stay at Bahia Honda State Park is the old bridge that is there. The bridge (parts of it) can be accessed at night by those staying in the park. It is an excellent place for star gazing. There is virtually no light pollution.  

The bridge was built in1904-1912 by Henry Flagler. It was a dream of his to build a train track from Miami to Key West after his first visit to Florida in 1878. The hurricane of 1935 damaged the tracks and killed many people. In 1938-1940, the Overseas Highway was constructed. If you drive down U.S. 1 to Key West, you will see some of the old highway and the Bahia Honda bridge.

We stargazed three nights. The full moon was making it a bit difficult to see many stars. Our luck to get rental dates during a full moon. Still, it was very beautiful up there. It surprised us that we were the only ones on the bridge each night. It was nice to have it all to ourselves.

During the daytime we walked some of the park, hit the pretty beach and drove around some of the nearby keys to see some sights and wildlife. Sunsets were beautiful at Bahia Honda.

The moon rises were beautiful too.

What an experience! We all had a great time at Bahia Honda State Park and the surrounding areas. I am so glad that The Colonel and I kept on pushing that refresh button back in 2023. Persistence does pay off indeed!