Month: March 2024

We originally had 19 nights booked in the lower keys – 14 at Bahia Honda State Park (not waterfront) and 5 at Curry Hammock State Park (right across from the dump station). We managed to pick up some cancellations, improving our campsites and extending our stay in the lower keys to 28 nights. We shortened our planned visit at John Pennekamp State Park from 14 days, to 2 days. We had never been there, but no other campers even mentioned it, so we assumed it wasn’t great. This post will cover the first half of our time in the lower keys. We s.pent the entire two weeks at Bahia Honda State Park

When we drove to Bahia Honda last year, it was the Saturday before Easter. We also drove through Miami. Avoiding Miami, this year, and driving on a normal Friday was much easier. We were very happy that there was no smelly Sargassum seaweed in the area (at least not yet), like last year.

We had scoped out all of the campsites last year, so we knew ours would be decent, even if it wasn’t oceanfront. It was just a short walk to a fishing area, near the bridge, which was a perfect waterfront place to drink coffee in the morning. It is a fairly large park, with lots of areas to walk or run to, including 2 beaches, a nice gift shop, a marina, 3 campgrounds and section of the Old Bahia Honda Rail Bridge restored for walking and as a scenic overlook.

During our first two weeks, we went to some places we discovered last year and also some new places. We took two trips into Key West. The first was to meet up with some Maui friends for an afternoon/evening. We went to Hog’s Breath Saloon, Sloppy Joe’s, Sunset Pier and Angelina’s Pizzeria. These are all places we went to, when we first visited back in the early 2000’s.

The second visit to Key West was on St. Patrick’s Day. We had reserved a room at an historic inn and took the bus to Key West. The bus stop was right across from the park entrance. It was only $4 and we didn’t have to worry about parking our large, HD truck overnight. It was a great way to experience Key West at night, without a long drive home. The inn was located toward the more quiet end of town. It housed a cozy little rum bar. Most people who know us, no we don’t usually drink fancy cocktails, but we received coupons for a free Painkiller at the bar. They were delicious!!!. They used fresh ground nutmeg and a very smooth dark rum. I plan to attempt making these at home.

We learned that the big St. Patrick’s Day celebration, including the parade, was the day before, but there was plenty of activity in town. We were not disappointed at missing the craziness.  We walked around town, had a great mexican dinner, listened to some live music and met some very cool people. We especially enjoyed walking around town in the morning. We had a great breakfast and went to the Hemmingway Museum. We hopped on the bus and returned to the campground before town became really busy again.

Fort De Soto is very popular and it is difficult to find availability. Local county residents are able to book a month earlier than anyone else. Somehow, we got lucky and found available campsites.

The campground has 238 campsites, many of which are on the water. We had two different large, pull-thru sites with water and electricity. We were not fortunate enough to book a waterfront site. The park is very popular for fishing, cycling and birding. The fort was built between 1898 and 1906 for the purpose of military defense, though was never involved in combat. It was eventually abandoned in 1923 and sold back to Pinellas County in 1948. It became a county park in 1963.

There is a paved bike path running through the park.  We rode our bikes almost every day and were able to ride around 15 miles in the park, without looping around again. Many days I walked, ran and cycled, mixing in a lot of birdwatching. Needless to say, I was really feeling great and have been, since.

We spent  many afternoons and evenings exploring St. Pete Beach. We met some locals who told us where to eat and where to hear good live music. Once we figured out how to deal with the lack of parking, we really enjoyed it. It’s so casual and affordable compared with Maui and even metro Detroit.

After 12 nights at Fort De Soto, we headed south toward the keys. Midway Campground in Big Cypress National Preserve was, ironically, midway along our route to Bahia Honda State Park. The route allowed us to avoid driving through Miami, which is pretty crazy.

It was the only campground in the area with power and it also had water. The sites were level and paved, but were 90 degrees to the driveway, so it was impossible to back in without driving on the grass. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, with zero cell service. It was a really great feeling. I might have felt otherwise if severe storms were moving through, but the weather was really nice.