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Photo: Christopher Hollis, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons
A popular destination for honeymooners after it split from Caladesi Island to the south during the 1920s, attempts at development proved unsuccessful due to World War II and the purchasing of the land by the state to protect the land. It was zoned as a park in 1981 and features 4 mi of beaches. It is Florida's most popular state park with more than a million visitors per year.
Honeymoon Island State Park is a 2,824.52-acre (1,143.04 ha) Florida state park protecting most of Honeymoon Island, a barrier island on Florida's Gulf coast in Pinellas County, west of Dunedin. The park protects approximately 4.25 miles (6.84 km) of shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico together with extensive seagrass beds, mangrove swamps, slash pine flatwoods, and coastal dunes and grasslands. The state began buying the land in 1974, and the park opened in December 1981.
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A Florida State Park located on Caladesi Island, across St. Joseph Sound from Dunedin, Florida and north of Clearwater Beach. It is reachable by boat and ferry. Amenities include 3 miles of nature trail, a marina, picnic pavilions, bathhouses, a park concession and a beach. Recreational activities include fishing, shelling, kayaking, boating, hiking and nature studies. In 2005 it was listed as having the 4th best beach in the country, in 2006 and 2007 the 2nd best, and in 2008 the best beach in the United States. Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island to the north were formed from a large barrier island in 1921 when a hurricane created Hurricane Pass, splitting the larger island into two parts. Though still referred to as an island, Hurricane Elena filled Dunedin Pass in 1985, making Caladesi Island accessible by walking north from North Clearwater Beach.
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