The Best Bridge Snorkeling in Bahia Honda State Park Florida + An Octopus

Every time we visit Bahia Honda State Park in the Florida Keys our first activity is always snorkeling under the 7 mile bridge. It isn’t a popular snorkeling spot, there are never more than a couple people snorkeling in this area every day, but it is some of the best snorkeling that we have found inside the park. We usually spent at least 2-3 full days of our Florida Keys vacation snorkeling at the bridge – it’s that good!

When we arrived at Bahia Honda last week, we grabbed our gear and hit the bridge and as usual we weren’t disappointed. Here is a peek at what we saw during one of our days of snorkeling.

This area of the bridge is covered in sea urchins. We always wear our Keens when we are in the water – we have learned the hard way how important it is to always wear shoes in the water. Eben stepped on a sea urchin a couple of years ago and we spent a long, excruciating evening in the emergency room. Lesson: Wear shoes in the water!

Eben is checking out the sea urchins and getting ready to hit the water. The water in this area is very shallow, especially during low tide – making it the perfect snorkeling spot to see small sea creatures up close and personal. There are a ton of different kinds of tropical fish, starfish, sea urchins, crabs, lobsters and an octopus or two.

Every year we see at least one octopus, this year we saw two! (I didn’t have my camera with me for the first one). They have to be my favorite, they are so intelligent and beautiful!

As you start to walk into the water if you look carefully you will see all kinds of small Gobi’s swimming in and out of the rocks. They will swim away super quickly as you walk into water and they are everywhere. Do you see it in the middle of the photo below?

I am a huge fan of the Needle Fish – they are everywhere in the Keys, however unless you are really looking you won’t see them, they blend in really well. They swim on the top of the water in small schools and they are very inquisitive, I have had them come right up to my mask while snorkeling just to say hello and sometimes they will swim with us.

The mister and Eben are the most adventurous, they carefully pick things up, examine, admire and then put it back exactly where they found it. This day they found several small lobsters, the octopuses and several different types of starfish.

If you go into the deeper water under the bridge, we have seen Nurse Sharks – which is always amazing! (I really need to get an under water camera!)

It is one of my favorite snorkeling spots in South Florida and the Keys. Have you been? Is there another place in the Keys or South Florida that has amazing snorkeling that we should know about (besides the reefs)? I would love to hear about your snorkeling adventures.