Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys just might be the most competitive place to book a site in all of Florida. Luckily, I beat the odds and snagged an epic 8 day family camping trip. Now I will show you how to do the same.
I wrote a comprehensive article on strategies for booking campsites in the Florida Keys, previously. But I’ll give you the cliff notes version here, which will help you do just fine:
Cliff Notes For Booking At Bahia Honda
👉 Reservations for Bahia Honda State Park (and all FL State Parks) are made at https://reserve.floridastateparks.org/. Go make a free account and familiarize yourself with the website.
👉 Reserve sites up to 11 months in advance (an absolute must for Bahia Honda State Park). You can (must) select for the furthest 11 month date out and then you are allowed to book up to an additional 13 days beyond that.
👉 New sites become available at 8:00am Eastern Time sharp, and not a second sooner. If you try to book a newly available site at 8:00am + 1 second you will be too late.
A few strategies…
👉 Play in multiplayer mode. Get your spouse, children, friends, neighbors, and strangers on devices ready to book the site for you.
👉 If you don’t get a site, wait 15-20 minutes to see if they become available again (this happens sometimes because people decide they didn’t want that site or they screwed up the booking).
👉 Make sure you are logged into your account before trying to book at 8:00am sharp.
There, that’s everything you need to know to get a booking. Persistence is rewarded.
Three Ways To Camp At Bahia Honda
There are three types of sites available: RV/Tent, Cottage, Tent Only.
Anybody can snag an RV/Tent site. Many of them are right on the water. I observed some RVs with their rear end hanging several feet out the back of the sites over open water. I love it!
Not everybody can do the Cottages and Tent Only sites because you must pass underneath a bridge that has a clearance of 6 feet and 8 inches. My minivan made it under just fine, but we had to take off our rooftop carrier and walk it through.
The cottage and tent only sites are at the Bayside Campground, and in my opinion, this is the prettiest campsite I’ve ever seen.
The cottages are on one side of the ocean bay and the tent sites curve around the rest of the bay. My site, in particular, was on a little jut of land with ocean in front and behind. I’m getting warm happy feelings in my tummy just thinking about it.
The tent only sites do not have electric hookups. But they do have water spickets. There is a bathroom for the tent sites, but no showers (those are available at the RV/Tent campground). Oh – IMPORTANT – there are no fire rings and fires cannot be on the ground at any sites in the park. So bring a fire pit like one of these. Also – firewood is hard to come by in the Keys, so haul in your own.
The final cost for our site per day (after taxes and fees are added in) was $43.84. Not bad for being in the Keys!
Things To Do At Bahia Honda
Here are the things to do at Bahia Honda:
⛺️ Camping – It’s fun to hang out at the campsite, especially if you are on the ocean like us.
⛺️ Fishing – I’m not really into fishing, but my son is; and he had a dream come true from being able to fish and catch ocean fish right from our campsite.
⛺️ Beach – There is a beautiful beach.
⛺️ Kayaking – Rent a kayak or bring your own because there are many interesting places to paddle to around the island.
⛺️ Geo-Seeking – It’s fun. Download the app and give it a try.
⛺️ Climb The Old Bridge – An old, defunct bridge from the old railway is in the park. You walk up part of it and gain panoramic views of the island.
⛺️ Watch For Wildlife – We saw dolphins from our campsite. Lots of fish that my son pulled from the ocean. Birds, of course. Our camp host said a couple weeks prior to our visit there was a saltwater crocodile in the area, but, unfortunately, we didn’t see him.
⛺️ Explore Nearby Keys – During our visit we explored up and down the Keys, including the legendary Key West. Read our full Keys Camping trip report.
It’s also possible to enjoy the park for the day if you are staying elsewhere. However – BE WARNED – the park can and often does reach capacity, so go early if you are gonna give it a shot.
I hope this overview helps plan for your trip.
This was the best camping trip I ever took with my family, and we have camped at many places.
I hope you get to experience the same joy that we did.
Until next time,
Austin
My youngest Son’s Dad… Knute Dobkins Jr., gave me an opportunity of a lifetime!!!
2001, December January 2002, he took me to The Keys…Big Pine Key, is where I stayed for almost 7 weeks!
Knute and his Entire family almost…had owned homes the Keys in the 1970s -1990s…
His Brother Mack Dobkins and his wife LIVED on Big Pine..ran a campground…
It was wild and the opportunity of My Life Time… Seriously.. I never gone to Florida like normal teenagers had on spring break, so he spent Christmas at his parents house in lake panasoffkee Florida and December 26th we rolled out with the snowbirds and I stayed on Big Pine key for about 7 weeks.. our son was only 9 months old at the time you need to play pen and my middle son like six and a half years old.. and most definitely the ocean is not like a lake around here in this s*** hole Indiana.. I’ve been currently studying more and more about going back because that’s all I did then try to go swimming with the Bay Honda a couple times, but never been in the ocean myself as an adult at six and a half year old out there swimming.. and obviously not alike and my 9-month-old in the playpen on the beach.. just wasn’t the way to explore it so I studied it and studied it and studied it and I vowed about that I would go back there… Every damn winter from Indiana in fact as a matter of fact I just found out the high temperature in the dead of Summer it’s only approximately 92° way cooler than here I’m out of here I have no grandkids here my dad just passed away that was the last of my family here I’m out of here and I’ll probably live there year round!! That’s no joke I just assumed that it got so sweltering hot God forsaken I wouldn’t be able to stand it! But boy was I wrong I just checked it out yeah! Forget Indiana I will not look back ever this is my very last winter I will ever ever be in this God forsaken state and in July August last year I did not want to be in the state it was hot sweating unbearable unforgiving ugly no beach no nothing f*** this I’m out of here!! Of course things have changed totally since me studying, I was a young mother at that time now I’m 55 on disability so I got that check for myself, I know there’s the flea market on Big Pine that’s outrageous I was always planning on coming back to Indiana tomorrow but f*** that no no no no no no! No way there’s no way last year I thought I was going to die in the middle of summer it’s so ugly here and it’s just not even plan it’s not it’s very humid hot and just like it probably is a central Florida but there no way no way I’ll see more of my existing relatives than I ever did right here in this s*** hole but there’s nothing there’s nothing I’m on disability I don’t need really much of a future except for warm and these old arthritic bones and not some God awful hot I can’t breathe!! I can live on a campground I can live in a tent in fact I slept in a tent on this trip I’m telling you about New Year’s Eve I was taking a shower outdoors 80° forget this Indiana ever again will I never ever see it again I promise you but even more reasonable all these prices please please send me all in any information you have about Big Pine it’s availability and maps please I’m going back definitely I don’t give a s*** if there ain’t no damn McDonald’s until you get to the mainland I don’t need a McDonald’s!! When I was there last but since Kmart’s out of business I’m sure Sam Walton’s found his little Weasley ass down in there somewhere but that I don’t need McDonald’s and there’s probably a Walmart where the Kmart was Marathon other than that I don’t need anything I can’t think of anything I need from anywhere north of there I’m 55 I don’t have that many much time left I don’t care!! We live in a small town places that’s even worse than being on the island!! I can wait for that grocery truck to get here with them tomatoes I ain’t no damn hurry I’m on island time sitting here freezing get that I promise you thank you thank you thank you and please send me any and all information Big Pine that flea market they have, I love it