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Sandspur Beach in Overseas Highway

Beach · Overseas Highway

Sandspur Beach

A 1992 best-beach pick with Atlantic sand and parking beside the shore.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Type
Beach
Nearest trail
Right here
Audio stories
4 nearby
  • Parking
  • Restrooms
  • #12 of 64 sights
DirectionsMap

Hear the audio tour

Sandspur Beach and Silver Palm Trail

Overview

About Sandspur Beach

Why stop

  • Open sand with clear, calm-water days.

Heads up

  • Little natural shade; wind and washed-up seagrass can change swimming conditions.

Map

Where it is

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BeachSandspur Beach24.66454, -81.25664
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Plan your stop

Before you go

Plan for sun and access

Natural shade is limited. Bring an umbrella or sunshade, or rent one with beach chairs from the park concession. A centralized restroom serves Sandspur. The park also has a free beach wheelchair shared on a first-come basis; a Sandspur-specific access mat or route across the sand is not confirmed. Pets are not allowed on beaches or in the water, though service animals are welcome.

Bahia Honda’s concession sells sandwiches, snacks and ice and rents beach gear, but its location relative to Sandspur is not clear. The park can reach day-use capacity on busy weekends and holidays, so arriving early is useful if the beach is your main stop.

3 active Overseas Highway alerts

  • CautionCoastal flooding across the Florida KeysA Coastal Flood Warning remains in effect for the Upper Keys and Coastal Flood Advisories remain in effect for the Middle and Lower Keys until 5 a.m.Official details
  • CautionNighttime lane closures on Seven Mile BridgeExpect possible nighttime lane closures on Seven Mile Bridge for FDOT’s rehabilitation project to repair and strengthen the bridge.Official details
See all 3 alerts
A park ranger sits on a dash-mounted phone, talking, as Parkwolf’s Tour Guide plays “Army Cutworm Moths: A Grizzly Bear Buffet” on Grand Loop Road below Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone
Parkwolf Tour GuideThe highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.

Overseas Highway Tour Guide

Your drive to Sandspur Beach, narrated.

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.

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Recorded for this place

Sandspur Beach and Silver Palm Trail
0:00 / 0:29
“You're nearing Sandspur Beach, on Bahia Honda's Atlantic shore. Parking runs beside the sand, so it's an easy choice for a beach walk or swim, though there's little natural shade.”

Plays as you drive up to Sandspur Beach in the Parkwolf Overseas Highway Tour Guide.

More stories near here in the app

  • The Turtle’s Magnetic Map
  • Bahia Honda’s Calusa Beach and Old Bridge
  • A Conch Grows a Thicker Lip
  • Little Duck Key Veterans’ Memorial Beach
  • 136 audio storiesacross Overseas Highway’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
  • Wildlife heatmapsfor Crocodile, Alligator, Manatee, and 13 more
  • Works offlinemaps, 26 trails, 88 places, and audio download before you lose signal
  • CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
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“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!!!!”
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Guide

More about Sandspur Beach

An easy beach stopSandspur Beach is one of Bahia Honda State Park’s three beaches, on the island’s Atlantic side.

Sandspur Beach is one of Bahia Honda State Park’s three beaches, on the island’s Atlantic side. Parking runs alongside the sand, making it an easy place to swim, sunbathe or walk the waterline. Visitors often find room to spread out and clear, calm water, but wind can stir sand into the waves and seagrass washes ashore on some visits, so swimming conditions vary.

Shorebirds and the shorelineAt low tide, shallow flats along the island’s ocean side can attract shorebirds.

At low tide, shallow flats along the island’s ocean side can attract shorebirds. The park lists willets, sanderlings, ruddy turnstones, short-billed dowitchers and plovers among the birds that use those flats. For a beach photo, the waterline gives you a natural lead through pale sand toward the green-blue shallows and Atlantic horizon.

A 1992 best-beach pickBoth Condé Nast Traveler and coastal scientist Stephen Leatherman, known as Dr.

Both Condé Nast Traveler and coastal scientist Stephen Leatherman, known as Dr. Beach, selected Sandspur as America’s best beach in 1992. It is a piece of the beach’s history, not a current ranking.

An island shaped by rail and roadBahia Honda means “deep bay” in Spanish; a 1772 chart called the island Rice Island.

Bahia Honda means “deep bay” in Spanish; a 1772 chart called the island Rice Island. The Overseas Railroad reached Key West in 1912. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane ended rail service, the old Bahia Honda bridge was incorporated into the highway in 1938, and a replacement bridge opened in 1972.

beachswimmingatlanticshorebirds

Wildlife

Wildlife in Overseas Highway

All Overseas Highway wildlife maps
Crocodile18 sightingsCrocodileMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapAlligator255 sightingsAlligatorMost seen around 6 PMSighting mapManatee55 sightingsManateeMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapCommon Bottlenose Dolphin70 sightingsCommon Bottlenose DolphinMost seen around 9 AMSighting mapBald Eagle51 sightingsBald EagleMost seen around 8 AMSighting mapKey Deer1,120 sightingsKey DeerMost seen around 6 PMSighting map

Sighting maps show where each species has been reported across Overseas Highway. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.

Keep exploring

Near Sandspur Beach

See it all on the map

Trails nearby

EasySilver Palm Nature Trail0.1 mi · 10 min · At the trailheadA quick detour for the silver-backed palm frondsEasyOld Bahia Honda Bridge Trail0.4 mi · 30 min · 1.6 mi awayA short stair climb earns a sweeping view over the water.EasyParadise Drive Trail2.1 mi · 1 hr · 4.7 mi awayA flat, rustic two-mile walk through No Name Key refuge habitat.

More stops nearby

Campground · 0.5 mi awaySandspur CampgroundA small, beachside campground for tents and short rigs.Campground · 0.9 mi awaySunshine Key RV Resort and MarinaAn island RV stay with waterfront sites, a pool, and activities.Campground · 1 mi awayBayside CampgroundEight bayside sites have water and grills, but no electricity.Lodging · 1.1 mi awayBahia Honda Bayside CabinsRaised duplexes make this a bay-side stay inside the park.Campground · 1.4 mi awayButtonwood Campground48 gravel sites for tents and RVs, including waterfront spots.Beach · 1.5 mi awayLoggerhead BeachShallow Atlantic water suits swimming and a first snorkel.Sight · 1.6 mi awayOld Bahia Honda BridgeA short stair climb leads to Flagler’s steel span above the water.Beach · 1.6 mi awayCalusa BeachA shallow bay beach beside the broken railway bridge.

Parkwolf’s Overseas Highway ranking

Top sights in Overseas Highway

All 88 places
  1. 1Old Seven Mile BridgeSight
  2. 2Southernmost Point BuoySight
  3. 3Mallory SquareSight
  4. 4Calusa BeachBeach
  5. 5Ernest Hemingway Home and MuseumSight
  6. 6Robbie’s of IslamoradaSight

Take Parkwolf to Overseas Highway.

The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.

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