Park Activities
Full Facility Camping
The camping area at the park has recently doubled
in size, from 30 to 60 full facility campsites. All
the sites can accommodate either tents or RVs and
a number of them are pull-through which are easily
accessible by larger RVs. Each of the camping areas
has a bathhouse with hot water and showers. Thanks
to fund-raising efforts by the park's volunteers,
each bathhouse area also has a coin-operated washer
and dryer and soda machines. Camping at Henderson
Beach has its pluses, given the park's proximity to
the city of Destin. Unlike remote wilderness camping,
provisions and restaurants are a short drive away.
Staying overnight in the park, however, you can still
experience the sweet smells and nighttime melodies
of the Real FloridaSM -- one that is disappearing
all too quickly.
Fishing
Known as the luckiest fishing village in the world,
visitors wishing to try their luck in the surf may
catch popular species such as pompano, red fish,
flounder, catfish, whiting, and sometimes cobia.
Bait & Tackle can be purchased just outside
of the park!
Nature Trails
A three-quarters-of-a-mile nature trail begins in
the day use area. The trail will provide not only
a winding tour through the dunes, but a beautiful
vista of the park from atop one of the dunes. This
high dune has developed around the remnants of a
bunker built decades ago when the military was using
the area. Although two of the park's rangers initiated
the trail, it has been built by the Friends of Henderson
Beach, the park's volunteer Citizen Support Organization,
and funded primarily by the neighboring Wal-Mart.
Picnicking
Henderson Beach State Park has both a day use area
and a campground, each of which has its own beach
area. The day use area has two picnic pavilions with
grills, picnic tables, restrooms, and soft drink vending
machines. These pavilions provide the only shade on
the sun-drenched beach, unless visitors bring their
own umbrellas. For visitors in wheelchairs, an all-terrain
wheelchair is available to provide access to beach
areas.
Showers
Bathhouses with outside showers are also provided.
Swimming
Henderson Beach State Park has one of Florida's
most prized assets, pristine white, sugar sand beaches
and more than 6,000 feet of scenic shoreline bordering
the emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When you
combine these quality natural resources with a wonderful
park layout, they provide some of the highest quality
resource based recreational opportunities in the
Florida panhandle. Please Use Caution! Visitors
to coastal parks are reminded to pay close attention
to the colored flags posted at welcome stations
and on the beaches. These flags indicate the wave
and swimming conditions at the beach. Red means
no swimming because of high winds or undertow currents,
yellow means swim with caution and stay close to
shore, blue means that the waters are safe.
 |
