Big Pine Key
Home of the Key deer, the smallest deer in North America.
- Population
- 4,521 (2020 census)
- Key deer
- About 800
- Deer refuge
- Since 1957
- Tides
- Two highs, two lows, uneven
Then
- 1900s
Big Pine Key gets a station on Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad. The Blue Hole, an old rock quarry, supplies fill for the line.
- 1957
The National Key Deer Refuge is established to protect the endangered deer.
Now
Key deer are the smallest subspecies of white-tailed deer: bucks weigh about 80 pounds. They live only from Big Pine Key to Sugarloaf Key, and most live here.
The refuge covers more than 8,500 acres on Big Pine and No Name keys and protects 21 other threatened or endangered species. U.S. 1 slows to 35 mph at night for the deer.
This page covers the many channels and keys of the Lower Keys between the Seven Mile Bridge and Key West.
On the water
From NOAA's predictions for Big Pine Key, Pine Channel Bridge, north side, FL over the next 365 days. Heights are in feet above mean lower low water (MLLW).
- Pattern
- Two highs and two lows a day, one noticeably bigger than the other
- Typical daily range
- 1.0 ft
- Biggest swing
- 1.5 ft on Nov 24
- Smallest swing
- 0.5 ft on May 28
- Highest high
- 1.4 ft, Oct 28 at 11:52 PM
- Lowest low
- −0.2 ft, Jan 21 at 4:30 AM
75 tide stations around Big Pine Key
- Big Pine Key, Pine Channel Bridge, north side0.9 mi
- Big Pine Key, Pine Channel Bridge, south side1.1 mi
- Big Pine Key, Coupon Bight1.3 mi
- Big Pine Key, Doctors Arm, Bogie Channel1.4 mi
- Big Pine Key, Newfound Harbor Channel1.8 mi
- Big Pine Key, Bogie Channel Bridge1.9 mi
- Little Torch Key, Pine Channel Bridge, south side2.1 mi
- Little Torch Key, Pine Channel Bridge, south side2.1 mi
- Big Pine Key, Spanish Harbor2.1 mi
- Big Pine Key, west side, Pine Channel2.3 mi
Show all 75 stations
- Little Torch Key, Torch Channel2.6 mi
- No Name Key, east side, Bahia Honda Channel3.0 mi
- Middle Torch Key, Torch Ramrod Channel3.0 mi
- Porpoise Key, Big Spanish Channel3.3 mi
- Ramrod Key, Newfound Harbor3.4 mi
- Little Pine Key, south end4.4 mi
- Ramrod Key, Niles Channel Bridge4.4 mi
- Mayo Key, Big Spanish Channel4.4 mi
- Munson Island, Newfound Harbor Channel4.5 mi
- Big Pine Key, northeast shore4.5 mi
- Bahia Honda Key, Bahia Honda Channel4.7 mi
- Water Key, west end, Big Spanish Channel4.9 mi
- Howe Key, south end, Harbor Channel5.0 mi
- Summerland Key, Niles Channel Bridge5.2 mi
- Summerland Key, Niles Channel South5.2 mi
- Big Torch Key, Niles Channel5.5 mi
- Little Pine Key, north end5.8 mi
- Big Pine Key, north end5.8 mi
- Summerland Key, southwest side, Kemp Channel6.0 mi
- Crawl Key, Big Spanish Channel6.0 mi
- Johnson Keys, south end6.1 mi
- Ohio Key-Bahia Honda Key Channel, west side6.4 mi
- Annette Key, north end, Big Spanish Channel6.5 mi
- Missouri Key-Ohio Key Channel, west side7.0 mi
- Johnson Keys, north end7.0 mi
- Kemp Channel Viaduct7.2 mi
- Little Spanish Key, Spanish Banks7.2 mi
- Big Torch Key, Harbor Channel7.3 mi
- Missouri Key-Little Duck Key Channel7.5 mi
- Howe Key, northwest end7.7 mi
- Little Duck Key, east end, Hawk Channel7.9 mi
- Horseshoe Keys, south end8.0 mi
- Water Keys, south end, Harbor Channel8.0 mi
- Knockemdown Key, north end8.4 mi
- Gopher Key, Cudjoe Bay8.5 mi
- Key Lois, southeast end8.5 mi
- Money Key8.7 mi
- Cudjoe Key, Cudjoe Bay8.7 mi
- Big Spanish Key8.9 mi
- Cocoanut Key, Florida Bay9.0 mi
- West Bahia Honda Key9.2 mi
- Raccoon Key, east side9.5 mi
- Cudjoe Key, north end, Kemp Channel9.7 mi
- Cudjoe Key, Pirates Cove10.1 mi
- Sugarloaf Key, Pirates Cove10.2 mi
- Sugarloaf Key, east side, Tarpon Creek10.2 mi
- Molasses Key Channel, Molasses Keys10.2 mi
- Tarpon Creek10.6 mi
- East Bahia Honda Key, south end, Florida Bay10.8 mi
- Sugarloaf Key, northeast side, Bow Channel11.3 mi
- Content Keys, Content Passage11.6 mi
- Park Channel Bridge11.7 mi
- North Harris Channel12.6 mi
- Pigeon Key, north side, Florida Bay12.6 mi
- Pigeon Key, south side, Hawk Channel12.7 mi
- Sugarloaf Key, north end, Bow Channel12.7 mi
- Pumpkin Key, Bow Channel13.4 mi
- Perky13.6 mi
- Sawyer Key, inside, Cudjoe Channel14.4 mi
- Sawyer Key, outside, Cudjoe Channel14.4 mi
- Johnston Key, southwest end, Turkey Basin15.3 mi
- Saddlebunch Keys, Channel No. 316.0 mi
- Snipe Keys, southeast end, Inner Narrows16.0 mi
- Snipe Keys, Middle Narrows17.3 mi
- Smith Shoal Light35.8 mi