Honeymoon Island State Park is a 385 acre barrier island across St. Joseph Sound from Dunedin, FL. Honeymoon Island has more than four miles of beach to explore along with a three-mile trail through one of the last remaining virgin slash pine forests.

Osprey at Honeymoon Island, Dunedin FL

Honeymoon Island is a great place to see lots of Florida wildlife, and offers a lot of great outdoor activities.  Honeymoon Island has a very interesting beach, which features some of the best shelling in the Tampa Bay area.  It’s also a good place for swimming, sunning, or snorkeling with smaller crowds than a lot of the more better known beaches, and offers a ferry ride to Caladesi Island (http://caladesiferry.org/about-caladesi-island-ferry/) for those interested in a more rustic and unimproved beach experience.  There are also several vendors inside and outside of the park which provide kayak and bike rentals. The park also has a very nice 2.5 mile (one way) nature trail that offers some of the best bird watching and photography in the area. In addition, the park entrance is only 2.6 miles from the Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail, one of our favorite bike trails in the Tampa Bay area.  The short distance from the trail makes it easy to add to a ride from/to other destinations on the Pinellas Trail.

Mated Bald Eagle pair at Honeymoon Island

This visit it was the nature walk that brought us to Honeymoon Island.  The Osprey Trail houses a nesting pair of Bald Eagles every year, along with literally dozens of Ospreys, Herons, Egrets, Spoonbills, and other beautiful waterfowl.  I just added a new telephoto lens to my bag (Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS), and wanted to try it out.  We had a nice walk, and got some pretty decent Osprey and Eagle pictures as well as a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  I was really excited about the new lens, so didn’t take time to make sure it fit my tripod head.  Got lots of comments about how crazy I was trying to hand hold a 7.5 lb lens!  🙂

Red-bellied Woodpecker at Honeymoon Island

Honeymoon Island also has a lot of great activities in addition to hiking. They offer bike and kayak rentals and are also the ferry terminal for Caladesi Island, another unspoiled barrier island but one that can only be reached by boat. There are numerous great restaurants close by in Dunedin, or in the nearby towns of Palm Harbor, Ozona, and Crystal Beach. One of our area favorites is Ozona Blue Grilling Company, a nearby waterfront restaurant with great food and a swimming pool for guests.