Kalea Bay Live Cam

Geological Setting and Early Settlement

Along the western edge of Florida’s peninsula, the land beneath Kalea Bay was sculpted by fluctuating Pleistocene sea levels and the relentless action of tidal currents. Beneath a veneer of calcareous sand lies oolitic limestone, the skeletal remains of ancient coral reefs that once fringed the shoreline. Over thousands of years, this substrate weathered into an undulating karst landscape, riddled with solution channels and freshwater lenses that fed native hammock vegetation. Long before modern development, the Calusa people traversed these waters in dugout canoes, harvesting fish and shellfish from nearby estuaries. Shell middens and tool fragments unearthed just a few miles north testify to a sophisticated maritime culture that thrived in harmony with the mangrove-lined bays.