Egmont Key
4905 34th Street S., # 5000
St. Petersburg, FL 33711
727-893-2627
Website

Located at the mouth of Tampa Bay, southwest of Fort De Soto Park. This 440-acre island is the home to one of the last government-operated lighthouses (built in 1858) in the nation. It is still an active navigational aide to all ships entering Tampa Bay. Now a wildlife refuge, Egmont Key was a camp for captured Seminoles during the Third Seminole War and was a Union Navy base during the Civil War. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection cooperatively manages Egmont Key with the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service and the U.S. Coast Guard. Several boats offer snorkeling excursions to this island which is accessible only by boat. Egmont Key also has a variety of significant natural resources, including a large population of gopher tortoises, and its beach is used as a nesting area by loggerhead sea turtles.