Honeymoon and Caladesi Island: Two Islands like Paradise

The two beautiful islands Caladesi and Honeymoon Island are located right in front of Clearwater Beach on the Florida Gulf Coast. Both islands are connected by a ferry. Beautiful, secluded beaches, pristine nature and not a single human anywhere. And of course, the best beach of the United States in 2008.

Honeymoon Island located right before Clearwater

Honeymoon Island can be reached from the mainland on a bridge and is thus easily accessible by car. The island itself is a national park and a protected landscape. That means, like in every protected area, visitors need to pay an entrance fee (8 Dollar per vehicle). Honeymoon island, has a ferry to Caladesi Island (14 Dollar per Person). The ride on the ferry takes a short time, the sea is calm. Even for people with motion or sea sickness, this ferry is not a problem.

Caladesi Island and Clearwater Beach – Next to Dunedin, Clearwater

Caladesi Island refers to the northern part of an island. The southern part is Clearwater Beach and has a bridge to the mainland. The northern part is not accessible by car. You can either walk from Clearwater Beach or take the ferry from Honeymoon Island. It creates a feeling of well-being and a holiday atmosphere to take the ferry, in particular because everything looks nicer from the water. Caladesi Island, the northern part of the Island, like Honeymoon, is a national park that is protected. Many rare animals and plants can be found here, the island is a great eco-system for that. For example 250 kinds of birds. Several herons are standing in the water. We could also see sea lions and dolphins.

Caladesi Island: Best Beach in America and Lona Oak Point

Caladesi Island was voted best beach in 2008 (by Dr. Beach, real name is Mr. Leatherman, professor for Geology at the Florida University). Caladesi Island also appeared on the list the previous years, before winning in 2008.

From the ferry port, several wooden bridges connect the beach to the ferry. The ground seems a bit swampy and covered with reed. Flat beaches with dunes form a very sensitive eco-system. The bridges protect this system.

Right after the beach entrance (exit of the wooden bridge) there are several smaller groups, approximately 20 people when we were there. Everything is a bit American. All visitors carry coolers, chairs, sunbelts, air mattresses, beach toys, food and sometimes even music. Unfortunately, that is a common thing to do in the US. To Americans, a day at the beach seems to come with carrying lots of items with them. It always looks a bit like “moving out of Egypt”.

If that is too much for you (to me it always is), it’s not a problem to avoid that kind of thing. They don’t walk far with their entire luggage. In fact, they all sit within a distance of 100 meters to the entrance. In this case, we just walked a bit north (maybe 10 minutes) and had the beach to ourselves. We did not hear anything from the noise and could get away from it all. A beach blanket, sun screen and a bottle of water is all we need. We enjoy walking along the coast with these few items. On Caladesi, this was a beautiful walk: no one on the beach, totally calm and secluded. The northern end right behind Lona Oak Point – end of our walking tour – is the most famous spot for photographers. Pics of this spot can be found on several websites. From here, it’s only 200 meters to the Honeymoon Island beach. It’s called Hurricane pass and used for fishing and jetskiing. Yet, there is large water traffic. Swimming from Honeymoon to save the ferry money isn’t recommendable 😉

The Gulf Coast: Sea Lions and Dolphins

The water is extremely comfortable: clear and warm. It’s flat and stays flat for a very long time, you can walk in the ocean for quite a while. Waves are soft, almost no waves at all. All in all a perfect spot to swim in the ocean. I am a little sensitive when it comes to cold oceans. I like only very warm sea water to swim; otherwise I prefer to stay on the beach. Florida’s Gulf Coast is perfect for that.

Small anecdotes tell how secluded the area is: sea gulls are everywhere and particularly curious. That was also the case here. They were walking around my backpack for a while. But they had no interest in my half-empty cookies bag, neither were they looking for crumbles. It seems they did not know at all what this is. They were simply not used to it at all, no one has ever fed them candies and they just didn’t care. (At the Atlantic coast it’s totally different: sea gulls waiting to steal my cookies.)

In distance, we saw two sea lions swimming by. They looked at the beach curiously but continued their route. How far they really were is hard to say. We could see them easily. Also, there was a dolphin jumping out the water somewhere in distance.

It’s been a beautiful, relaxing day at the beach for us. I would always recommend a trip to Caladesi or Honeymoon Island. The beach cannot be called insider’s tip any more since topping the beach ranking but it’s definitely worth a visit.

For Hikers, Caladesi offers many opportunities. They also offer kayak rentaks and snorkeling. There are several kilometers of hiking routes on Caladesi. It’s also possible to go there in your own boat; anyways I cannot say anything about that.

Caladesi Island is located in the ocean right in front of Clearwater Beach. It is accessible by ferry (from Honeymoon Island) or by a walking tour (from Clearwater Beach). It’s a national park that requires an entrance fee (Honeymoon Island 8 Dollars). The ferry is 10 Dollars and leaves every hour from 10 am. The official website recommends arriving by ferry. Caladesi Island State Park is open daily from 8 am till sunset.