Buy A Honda

   Bahia Honda is a Florida state park that is located at the end of Big Pine Key Florida. The parks deep natural bay has been a harbor for passing sailors for centuries. The island's name is Spanish for "deep bay” and began showing up on their nautical charts hundreds of years ago. The park was also used as a key west extension of the Florida east coast railway, which began in the early 1900’s by Henry Flagler.

       Of the 43 bridges needed to link the mainland of Florida to Key West, the Bahia Honda Bridge was one of the most difficult to construct. This was due to the island’s deep bay and the changing of the tides. The railway often stopped on the Bahia Honda state park to allow passengers to enjoy the white sand beaches and blue water Florida had to offer.
         Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, a category five hurricane, directly hit Bahia Honda with 200 miles an hour winds and a 17-foot storm surge. Miles of train track were destroyed leading to the decision of selling the Railroad and its right-of-way to the state of Florida. The once railroad was then converted into the Overseas Highway consisting of two lanes that allowed for automotive traffic opening in 1938. The Florida park service fully obtained the full property of the Bahia Honda island in 1984, once a private landowner sold its portion of the east end.
        Today the state park is filled with several actives, historical momentums and a ton of learning experiences. While visiting Bahia Honda, one thing, in particular, caught my eye, sea beans or drift seeds. Any type of bean, fruit or seed that is adapted for long distance travel from ocean currents can be considered a sea bean or drift seed. Most of these are produced by tropical trees, and they can be found on distant beaches after drifting thousands of miles through ocean currents.

        Some sea beans that I found at Bahia Honda were sea hearts, hamburger beans, crabwood seeds, and a tropical walnut. My favorite bean was the sea heart. The Sea Heart is the seed of a vine called monkeys ladder that grows in the jungles of the Caribbean, Central, and South America. Sea Hearts are used for jewelry and are believed to be good luck!

https://www.floridastateparks.org/park/Bahia-Honda

http://www.beachbeans.com/entada.html