Florida Campsites we most love...a survey

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
GANG;

Use this post to tell us your favorite campgrounds in Florida. Why, what time of year, and what amenities they offer. What interesting sites are around to visit. This will be our basis for planning trip throughout year. Let us know.

Mickey
 

GETnBYE

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Hello,
We are in Alabama, but we have asked to be put in the Florida chapter since our state does not have a chapter.
We have only been to TopSail Hill Preserve state park and it was beautiful. It is very near Destin, has beautiful sites, a trolley to the beach. The pool was small, but nice. We loved it. I can't comment on any others in FL as I have not been to any others...........but I am ready to.
Link to 5 pages of photos:
http://floridastateparks.org/topsailhill/photogallery.cfm?pagenum=1


Nita
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

NITA;

Welcome to the forum, we would love to have you in our group. Thanks for the info on TopSail Hill Preserve. This is the kind of info we need. I'm putting together a list of places we could have rallies.
One of my favorite places is Flamingo Lake in Jacksonville. I've been there 2 times. Once in May and second time was Labor Day. Lots of space, fresh water lake but no power boats, sandy beach, fishing, pool, playground, shaded and non sheded spots, good place to ride bikes, restaurant, clean, nice folks, great place for the kids, parents, grandparents. After my grandson left with his parents, I had to take a nap, I rode for miles around the place. Busy on major holidays.

Be sure and make comments on the thread about the Super Show. If you haven't been there it's something. We are going to have a presence there, trying to put details together. And I'm working on coordinating with Heartland on some of the details.

Mickey
 

loafer

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Hey Anita
Great pics thanks for sharing
Hope all is well and say Hi to Wayne
Best regards
Bill and Maureen
 

floridarandy

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Here's a few in Southwest Florida:

1. Royal Coachmen Resort - http://www.woodalls.com/campground/campgrounddetails.aspx?campground-name=Encore%20Royal%20Coachman&campgroundid=43240300&index=0

2. Sun-N-Fun - http://www.sunnfunfl.com/sarasota-rv-camping/

Both are located in Sarasota area with access to beautiful sugar sand beaches, wonderful shopping, restaurants, museums, etc.

Randy and Karen

although not rally material also a couple of great state parks:

1. Oscar Scherer State Park (sarasota)
2. Myakka State Park (sarasota)
3. Hillsborough River State Park (tampa area)
4. Oleno State Park (north florida near numerous springs)
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Randy;
I liked Sun -n-Fun. It would work well for rally. Spacious sites, lots of activities for any age, ease of manuevering larger coaches, and I especially loved Yoders Restaurant. It is Amish owned and serves some REALLY great pies. I didn't realize how popular Sarasota was as a vacation destination for our Amish friends. Little gift shop in parking lot had authentic handmade quilts, baskets, ect.

Topsail looks really nice. Beautiful scenery, should be easy to get in with large units. Lots of great info from all post.

Mickey
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Amy and I enjoyed Sunset King RV Resort in DeFuniak Springs, FL. It's located next to a lake. There's a restaurant/meeting room on site as well as a chapel. They have boats you can rent too. We stayed there twice early this year. They really go all for the campers with all kinds of activities and places to go. Amy and I went on a organized deep sea fishing trip and had a lot of fun. The price is resonable and they accept PA as well. I like the way they set up the sites. Every other spot is opposite direction so two units will have their front doors facing each other. During the winter months the place is packed with a lot of snowbirds. But they keep a few sites open for short stays. We'll definitely go back.

Check out their website: http://www.sunsetking.com/
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Dave;

Thanks for the site. There are some really great CG's in the Panhandle. I promise we are going to plan at least one rally in that area for this next year. I sort of thought about starting in more southern areas in the winter and working our way up as temps changed. That way we could also include our snowbird friends. I noticed in your avitar you tease us with your camera. What brand are you shooting? What subjects do you shoot most? I have been shooting Canon for years.
Mickey
 
In St. Augustine, Anastasia State Park is a fantastic spot to linger a few days. The positives of the park is that the beach is close, is rarely crowded & has a nice little snack shack and gift/ "Oops, I forgot to pack..." shop. The snack shack/gift shop area is wifi enabled (no charge!) there are outlets near the picnic tables- though I dont know if that pavilion is lit at night. This area also has a nice restroom area w/outside shower to rinse off. Previous to this area is an inlet, great for fishing, launching your own non-motorized craft or rental of such. The campgrounds are divided up, primarily by size, Coquina being pretty much the only area allowing big rigs. Read the footnotes carefully when registering online, they will post if the campsite is narrow, low hanging tree limbs, etc. I suggest on your first visit, if you love it as much as we do, to walk the campground and make notes of which sites you could fit in. The main roads in each area are narrow and curvy, if you have a mid-sized rig or larger, it's a slow crawl in and out but navicable. Once in a blue moon you may get your sat dish to connect, but that's rare due to the heavy tree coverage. However, the antenna will pick up many various local channels w/a good picture. The negatives would be that this is one of the most sought after state parks in Florida. Bookings occur eleven months in advance (the last time I checked), so preplanning is required, but frequently you can catch an opening online from a cancellation (that's why having a list of sites you can fit in would be useful). The other is as in all of our state parks, no sewer hookups. Though the dump station is very nice and well maintained, only one of the four slots have a threaded connector on the water hose/spiket, so if you use a Flush King, you may want to jump out and see which "lane" you want to get into as during check out times, lines can form, though not usually more than 3-4 deep. That's my report! Hope that helps anyone that was thinking of going. We love the place - maybe you'all will too! Happy camping!
 

DW_Gray

Well-known member
Mickey,

I'm a Canon user as well. Check out my other website for all the details, VandenbergWildlife.com.

Amy and I visited the fine Southern California HOC Rally in Buellton, CA last night. We may be back in Florida late winter or early spring.
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Thanks Islandgirl;
Iv'e been by Anastasia a couple of times just driving by. I'll have to go do a drive through before trying to make a reservation just as you suggested. When we bought our BH it was with fulltiming in mind. Something we could really live in for the next period of our lives. It is however larger that my last 5er and longer than a lot of parks were designed for. The 3585 is 40' from pin to bike rack. I'm mabe too particular about limb marks down the side, and navigating some of the narrow roads can be a task. Seems like there is always a tree in the wrong place when backing into the spot. However we really love it. The living space is remarkable. We are looking to travel out west when we make the move to fulltiming. It won't be as much of a problem there.
Right at this momnent we are packing a lot of our antiques and glassware to take to antique flea market and sell on ebay. We are committed to making it work. However the process will take a while to complete with housing market and my business.
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Dave;
You have to be back in time for show:) Hey you know Florida, especially central and south eastern Florida has a great waterfowl population in breading plumage, that winter here. I also have a duck boat complete with blind that allows the up close an personal with a lot of species. There is always an invite to get out EARLY one day. I try to attend the Space Coast Birding Festival each year to learn new techniques, attend a few of the seminars and learn some of the hotspots.
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Try Salt Springs in the Ocala National Forest, anytime except summer. Sites are fairly large, angle back in, lots of shade. They have an area that can used for group functions but it's not fancy. Nearest major attraction, other than paddling the springs, is Silver Springs. You can usually see lots of wildlife in the park.
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

I've been to Salt Springs State Park and also the Elite resort accross the street. The State park is one of the few that is managed by private company and is well maintained. Sites were large and easy to get into. I expect in winter it's packed with SnowBirds due to reasonable rates and springs. Some sites were shaded some not so. Still a nice spot. The resort accross the street was nice but pull throughs were at a premium. Nice facilities, restaurants, fishing, boating, large rec hall. This resort has a mixture of permanent RV's, permanent dwellings, and transient customers. Really liked sunsets there over lake.
 

Judy Bentley

Seakayaker
We also love Topsail Hill. It used to be private but now is a state park, so don't know how that would work for a rally. We agree that Sunset King in Defuniak is large and nice, but there is very little to do in the immediate area--might need to schedule a rally there in the off season. We visited Brevard County's Sebastian Inlet park last winter and liked it much better than the state park that is practically next door. If you are a boater and like to fish, it is almost completely surrounded by water. No sewer hookups, though, so we had to invest in a blue boy. We need to go down to the Clearwater/Pinellas Park area next month (November)--anyone have a suggestion for us on where to stay? I am afraid that Fort DeSoto/Mullet Key is not big rig friendly.
Judy Bentley and Ron Pagel
2006 Landmark Grand Canyon
2005 Dodge Dually
 

Hogladyrider

Well-known member
http://rockcrushercanyon.com/

We love this campground 300+ heavily wooded sites, big rig friendly, Passport park along with Good Sam. Nice screened in pool with hot tub, clubhouse, great bike riding and wonderful walking as well. Very friendly managers, and a pet friendly park, especially important to us as we travel with our two dogs, and one is 120 lbs and many parks will not allow large dogs.

Nearby activites are MANY! Homassasa is a hop skip and a jump as is Crystal River. We often bring our wave runner with us and go out on the water for several hours. LOTS of great restaurants nearby as well, along with Walmart, Home Depot, you name it, yet the campground is "out of the way"....on the "right" side of Hwy 19.

There are many other campgrounds in the area closer to the water BUT beware of the "no seeum" and other bugs. Not a problem at Rock Crusher.

Rate includes water, sewer, electric, cable, wii fi, picnic table, rv wash area. There are several sites with pavers but majority are not.

If you want to feel like you are in the woods yet in Florida you won't be disappointed, in fact we have a site reserved for a long weekend beginning Nov 12-15th! We have no problems parking our Big Horn in any of these sites.

Susan
 

MICKEY

Past Florida Chapter Leader
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Hogladyrider;
Man this place really looks great. Has great possibilities for rally. We have stayed in several CG's in Crystal river area and did not know about this one. That's why I started this thread...to find new and great places for all of us to enjoy.
 

Hogladyrider

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

It is great and for us, it is only a 90 minute drive......from Howey In THe Hills to Crystal RIver.

Little history, it is privately owned and managed, several years ago, Elite took it over and then late 2009/early 2010 the orignal owner took it back thru bankruptcy court and it is back to it's original stature. Elite tried to make it very commercialized, selling lots etc and in this economy it didn't work.

The managers are live in on site in their RV and we have always had positive experiences with all our visits there. You might want to take a day trip ride over to check it out.....and treat yourself to lunch out!

I will try and take some pics next weekend when we are there, I already have many on my Shutterfly acct which I can PM you a link.

Susan
 

Leno

Active Member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Hey Nita, Kevin and I are at Topsail for the month workamping. Not very crowded.
Judy, we have been to Ft Desoto and fit in just fine. Guess it depends on the site. We were right on the ocean. It is pricey though as is Topsail...
 

GETnBYE

Well-known member
Re: Campsites we most love...a survey

Hi Arlene & Kevin
No fair being at Topsail when I can't go.
How is the weather? It has just turned cool/cold here. I can't stand it already, gonna be a long winter.
We are planning to get down to the beach much earlier next year. Are you going to be working there next year also?
Have fun.
Nita

Hey Nita, Kevin and I are at Topsail for the month workamping. Not very crowded.
Judy, we have been to Ft Desoto and fit in just fine. Guess it depends on the site. We were right on the ocean. It is pricey though as is Topsail...
 
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