Visitor center · Overseas Highway
A quick wildlife exhibit beside Calusa Beach.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Overseas Highway Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Overseas Highway. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
See the Overseas Highway audio tourRecorded for this place
Bahia Honda’s Calusa Beach and Old Bridge“Bahia Honda's Calusa area is coming up, with a small bay-facing beach beside the old steel bridge. Choose Calusa for a swim and a picnic with that view; nearby Loggerhead Beach faces the Atlantic instead.”
Plays as you drive up to Bahia Honda Sand and Sea Nature Center in the Parkwolf Overseas Highway Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Guide
Bahia Honda Sand and Sea Nature Center is a small nature-interpretation stop in the park’s southwest Calusa day-use area, near Calusa Beach. The park identifies an outdoor exhibit beside the building. It works best as a quick add-on to beach or picnic time, rather than a separate major stop.
The outdoor exhibit adds context to the Keys’ sea life and shoreline. Its display connects sea turtles and shorebirds with the health of the coast, a useful bit of background before you spend time by the water.
Calusa’s day-use area has picnic tables and grills, so it is easy to combine a short look at the exhibit with lunch or time at the beach. The park concession sells sandwiches, snacks and ice as a separate park service; the nature center is not a café.
Wildlife
18 sightingsCrocodileMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
255 sightingsAlligatorMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
55 sightingsManateeMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
70 sightingsCommon Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
51 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting map
1,120 sightingsKey DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Overseas Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
EasyOld Bahia Honda Bridge Trail0.4 mi · 30 min · 0.1 mi awayA short stair climb earns a sweeping view over the water.
EasySilver Palm Nature Trail0.1 mi · 10 min · 1.6 mi awayA quick detour for the silver-backed palm fronds
EasyLongbeach Trail2.3 mi · 1.5 hr · 3.4 mi awayTwo short spurs reach mangroves and open shoreline.
EasyParadise Drive Trail2.1 mi · 1 hr · 3.9 mi awayA flat, rustic two-mile walk through No Name Key refuge habitat.
Beach · At the trailheadCalusa BeachA shallow bay beach beside the broken railway bridge.Sight · 0.1 mi awayOld Bahia Honda BridgeA short stair climb leads to Flagler’s steel span above the water.
Beach · 0.1 mi awayLoggerhead BeachShallow Atlantic water suits swimming and a first snorkel.
Campground · 0.3 mi awayButtonwood Campground48 gravel sites for tents and RVs, including waterfront spots.
Lodging · 0.6 mi awayBahia Honda Bayside CabinsRaised duplexes make this a bay-side stay inside the park.
Campground · 0.7 mi awayBayside CampgroundEight bayside sites have water and grills, but no electricity.
Campground · 1.1 mi awaySandspur CampgroundA small, beachside campground for tents and short rigs.
Beach · 1.6 mi awaySandspur BeachA 1992 best-beach pick with Atlantic sand and parking beside the shore.Parkwolf’s Overseas Highway ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
