RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Florida >> Palm Beach County >> South Bay >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in South Bay, we use the following websites to find information relevant to South Bay and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for South Bay:
    • 26.664126, -80.716118
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on South Bay
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Palm Beach County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Palm Beach County
    • Since South Bay is near Hendry County and also Glades County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hendry County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Glades County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for South Bay

Communities Also Named South Bay ...

We found nine communities that are also named South Bay.

Within Florida, the name South Bay is unique.

Beyond Florida, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, six are located in the United States and five are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Humboldt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the California community of South Bay [Humboldt County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This South Bay lies 1,514 miles [2,436.5 km]<2> to the north northeast of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
    • New York
      • Madison County
      • This South Bay is located in Madison County and lies 1,172 miles [1,886.2 km]<2> to the north northeast of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of South Bay.
      • Onondaga County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New York community of South Bay [Onondaga County].
      • Washington County
      • This South Bay is located in Washington County and lies 1,231 miles [1,981.1 km] to the north northeast of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of South Bay.
    • Ohio
      • Knox County
      • This South Bay is located in Knox County and lies 960 miles [1,545 km]<2> to the north of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of South Bay.
    • Ontario
      • This South Bay lies 1,800 miles [2,896.8 km]<2> to the north northwest of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
    • Saskatchewan
      • We haven't found the location of this community yet.
    • Washington
      • Thurston County
      • This South Bay is located in Thurston County and lies 2,675 miles [4,305 km]<2> to the northwest of the South Bay that is located in Palm Beach County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Thurston County community of South Bay.

Curious and Interesting Names Near South Bay ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Chosen ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Harlem
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Hooker Point
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hooker Point is located in Hendry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooker Point
  • Liberty Point
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty Point is located in Glades County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty Point
  • Pelican Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Sand Cut ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
  • Sixmile Bend
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Sixmile Bend is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixmile Bend
  • Sugar Junction
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Sugar Junction is located in Hendry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Junction
  • Twentymile Bend
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the east)
    • Twentymile Bend is located in Palm Beach County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twentymile Bend

How Far From South Bay to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as South Bay to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in South Bay and extending to:

  • West Palm Beach, which is the Seat of Palm Beach County, lies 41 miles [66 km]<2> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from South Bay to West Palm Beach, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • Tallahassee, which is the State Capital of Florida, lies 338 miles [544 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 20 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 871 miles [1,401.7 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 50 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,595 miles [10,613.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,250 miles [11,667.7 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,161 miles [8,305.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that South Bay could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- South Bay) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<4>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from South Bay to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in South Bay. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 26.6641, Longitude: -80.7161    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 309.832 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 303.897 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.624 degrees.