tsolomonnp@hotmail.com Report post Posted June 9, 2009 Hi, All You Experienced RVers, My husband and I are planning a southeast trek from CA to the Florida Keys. We plan to arrive in Florida sometime in October. We were love to here your comments on staying in the Keys (Marathon, etc). And, what do we do when there are hurricaines (besides, get the H out of there) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seajaycecil@yahoo.com Report post Posted June 28, 2009 Willa and I have stayed on the ''keys'' in the winter months (JAN) and here are some things we have learned. One. The further south you go on the keys the more camp sights cost per night. Two. The further into winter months you go the more camp sights cost. Three. We stayed on Marathon at the Buccaneer camp ground as I remember. Dont bet that name is right but it will be the second campground as you go south on the island. It is on the right hand side of the road. The people are very nice and the sights are pretty big. Four. If you are thinking about getting a spot in a ''state campground'' FORGET IT. You have to wait till someone dies or make your reservations at least one year in advance. You can go on line and check on availability You may get lucky but dont depend on it. Five. The earlier you make reservations the more likely you will get a price range you are looking for. Six. Dont be afraid to SHOP AROUND. Seven. The keys are a wonderful place for fishing. Buy a Florida salt water license and go fishing off the old road beds that were the ''old highway'' down the keys. Florida has turned them into ''fishing piers'' and they are free for the using. You can go out and ''catch your supper'' about every day. Eight. If you stay on Marathon, Key west is about 80 miles away. Go to Key West and plan the trip as a ''day trip'' Go see the ''sights'' down there. It is worth the trip...... Nine. Hurricanes are the least of my worry in October. A good plan is to keep your water tank and gas tank at least 3/4 full at all times and be prepared to the the ''Heck'' out of Dodge if necessary. "STUFF HAPPENS'' Ten... There is a LOT TO SEE AND DO in Florida. I will not attempt to list all the things that can take your time and money. GO AND ENJOY.......... Seajay the sailor man Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thomasp Report post Posted June 28, 2009 We stayed at Grassy Key RV resort in May. It is a new park and is a very nice place. It is only a few miles from Marathon. have fun, Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tsolomonnp@hotmail.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 Willa and I have stayed on the ''keys'' in the winter months (JAN) and here are some things we have learned.One. The further south you go on the keys the more camp sights cost per night. Two. The further into winter months you go the more camp sights cost. Three. We stayed on Marathon at the Buccaneer camp ground as I remember. Dont bet that name is right but it will be the second campground as you go south on the island. It is on the right hand side of the road. The people are very nice and the sights are pretty big. Four. If you are thinking about getting a spot in a ''state campground'' FORGET IT. You have to wait till someone dies or make your reservations at least one year in advance. You can go on line and check on availability You may get lucky but dont depend on it. Five. The earlier you make reservations the more likely you will get a price range you are looking for. Six. Dont be afraid to SHOP AROUND. Seven. The keys are a wonderful place for fishing. Buy a Florida salt water license and go fishing off the old road beds that were the ''old highway'' down the keys. Florida has turned them into ''fishing piers'' and they are free for the using. You can go out and ''catch your supper'' about every day. Eight. If you stay on Marathon, Key west is about 80 miles away. Go to Key West and plan the trip as a ''day trip'' Go see the ''sights'' down there. It is worth the trip...... Nine. Hurricanes are the least of my worry in October. A good plan is to keep your water tank and gas tank at least 3/4 full at all times and be prepared to the the ''Heck'' out of Dodge if necessary. "STUFF HAPPENS'' Ten... There is a LOT TO SEE AND DO in Florida. I will not attempt to list all the things that can take your time and money. GO AND ENJOY.......... Seajay the sailor man Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tsolomonnp@hotmail.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 We stayed at Grassy Key RV resort in May. It is a new park and is a very nice place. It is only a few miles from Marathon. have fun, Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tsolomonnp@hotmail.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 We stayed at Grassy Key RV resort in May. It is a new park and is a very nice place. It is only a few miles from Marathon. have fun, Tom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tsolomonnp@hotmail.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 Thanx, guys for your input. I appreciate hearing details. Seajay, I would also like to hear what other site you found in Florida. We will be there the month of October. We've seen Orlando and the East coast but would enjoy info on the west coast and the panhandle (or whatever they call that area). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
havenc@columbus.rr.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 I can agree with pretty much what's written so far, however, just becasue you aren't there in hurrican season, you are not in the clear. Florida has lots of "tornadoes". Two years ago, while at the KOA campground, we decided to splurge and pay extra to park with the RV hanging over the beautiful canal there, Very Scenic in evenings. However, on the 3rd night, a water spout (a tornado once it reaches land) came through approximately 1/2 mile north of us. This storm was very bad, depositing 11 inches of water in a few hours. We sustained a roof leak and were basically sitting with our butts in the middle of a tornado. No place to run because there was 6-10 inches of standing watter all around us and no way to know if an electric line was compromised and feeding power into that water. No rubber boots and forget umbrellas. We weathered the storm and obviously lived through it. I want to tell you I have been a tornado in Ohio and this was nearly as bad. In many ways, it was worse because Florida doesn't have warning sirens on the Keys that I know of. Make sure you look closely at someplace to escape to on the grounds of the campground in case of such a storm. Have a weather radio and batteries. Know PRECISELY where you are (county, mile marker etc. ) and just as you look for exit signs in theaters, know where you are going to go in the event of one of these water spouts. How many times this happens annually down there, I cannot say. If I am in the area, you can bet they will follow me....that's my luck it seems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
seajaycecil@yahoo.com Report post Posted July 4, 2009 Ok guys. Here goes. below is a list of some of the places we have stayed while exploring Florida. You will notice that the majority of these campgrounds are COUNTY CAMPGROUNDS. These are really hard to find as they are not advertised in your normal camping books. Its like they want to keep them a secret and only let people from Florida use them. Most of these campgrounds are water and electric only but to my knowledge they all have dump stations and potable water stations. The camp sights are generally big and pretty private. We look for the county camp grounds because they are cheap also. ..... http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_Ft_Desoto.htm http://www.abfla.com/parks/SebastianInlet/...ninlet.html#his Campgrounds we have stayed in. . Hillsborough county parks Lithia springs park county park Close to Tampa. Lithia springs park, 3932 Lithia springs road, Lithia ,fla. 831-744-5572 10.00 a night, nice showers , water and ele. Will have to use the dump station. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E.G. Simmons park. county park Phone 813-6717655 Ruskin fl. Hway 41. 10.00 a night , nice showers , water and ele. Will have to use the dump station. On Tampa bay. Half of the campsights are on the canal ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edward Medard county park 10.00 a night phone 813-7573802 turkey creed rd. off of hway 60 . We did not stay here .They were full. We road around the campground. A lot of woods. There were some big campers ,but most of the site looked small. There is a lake there. Campground is not on the lake. They have water and ele. Did not go in showers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Polk county campgrounds Saddle creek park county park 377 morgan combee rd. Lakeland fl. Phone 863-4132399 15.00 a night This the one were we could put the canoe in from our camp site. We stayed there 14 days. The campground is small. They do not have a boat rimp. There is one on the road coming in to campground. You could put you boat in from campground. Water, ele. . Will have to use the dump station. 5.00 to use dump station. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake posalie park and campground Tiger rd [off state road 60] Lake wales fl. Phone 863-6794245 15.00 a night We stayed here, nice campground nice showers,Water, ele. . Will have to use the dump station. 5.00 to use dump station. Campground is on a big lake. They have a boat rimp. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lake rasalse park 2925 rasalie lake rd.,lake wales county park Have not stayed there. Do not know any thing about it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake Arbuckle county park Lake Arbuckle rd.,frost proof fl. Phone 863-6352811 Have not stayed there. Do not know any thing about it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- These we have not been to. Do not know any thing about them. Some one told me about them. Moss park 407-2546840 4 miles SE of SR15[narcossee rd.] moss park rd. 32832 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indian river county Blue cypress lake park look for sign on left after you cross florida turnpike on hway 60 Free dry camp I also suggest Anastasia state park south of St Augustine and an easy drive back to some ''tourist stuff'' in St Augustine. This campground is close to the ocean ... Manatee Hammock is another nice county park. It is further south on the coast road. In both these camp grounds you have a lot of trees but they are really beautiful. I think the Indian river runs right past this park. You can fish in the river and catch gobs of catfish.... You will notice that most of these camp grounds are on or near water. This is because Willa and I are fisherpersons and we will go fishing at the drop of a sinker. We carry a boat on top of the pick up........ Florida is ''littered'' with nice campground from the mom and pop place to the luxurious places that wont take anything but ' ''A'' class less than five years old. There is a web sight I believe that lists all the state parks in Florida. you can go there and check availability right on line and you can make reservations right on line. I would suggest you try that because I checked with Sebastien inlet campground and they had sight available in October. Hope this helps and if it does you will owe me ten cents the next time you see me ........jGood advise is not cheap but ''dumb looks'' are free ....................... lol .................. Seajay the sailor man Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rheidt204@verizon.net Report post Posted November 4, 2009 We went to Key West in August. There were quite a few parks along US-1. Not sure where you were headed, but near Key West there were a few places, all with big rigs (we have a 41') albeit tight. Even in low season all of the places were espensive. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sailboss Report post Posted November 22, 2009 We've been camping in the Keys for a couple of decades. Despite the warning about never being able to get into the State parks, we've had great success with them. The secret is that there are several sites in each park that are not listed online or over the phone. They are kept open for "walk-ups" So it pays to check often on ReserveAmerica and in person. We got a lovely beach-front site in Long Key SP for two weeks that way. Our favorites are Bahia Honda and Long Key. For commercial parks, the price is always high ($80-90/night) but you can't beat Big Pine Key Fishing Lodge for ambience (Key deer in the campground!) and a great pool! Size is a problem if you're over 35 feet. We bought our HR Neptune specifically because it is usable with the roadside slide left in. Anywhere in the Keys you can expect flakey, dirty power and water restrictions. I highly recommend a surge protector and auto transformer with boost. A good taste filter is worth the money. Another consideration is stakes for tying down awnings. There is no "dirt"! It's either hard coral or soft sand. Plan accordingly. Awnings take a severe beating in the winds and the rain comes in buckets. If you're leaving for even a few hours, stow the canvas! Aspecific park to avoid is the mess on Sunshine Key. Lots of tough-gang affiliated Cubans making the Mariel boat lift look like Sunday School. I'm not xenophobic and we speak Spanish but the place was recently described as a Cuban hobo camp! reminiscent of the squatter camps along I-95 in the 80's. Go for the state parks! They're clean, fun cheap and easy! www.sailboss.blogspot.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jleamont Report post Posted July 14, 2015 Any new recommendations for Key West? We are considering a trip next summer and I have been searching the web trying to find that perfect place. Full hook ups are a requirement, great view and some activities for the teens would be a bonus. I have looked at Boyd's and Blue Water. Since it is a family vacation I would spend the extra to camp like a king for a few days. On the days of rest it would be nice to have some activities to keep the teens occupied. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
