Key Largo

Key Largo John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park December 1

Our planning for this long trip included finding warmer places to visit over the Winter months. Neither Cindy nor I had ever been to the Florida Keys so we looked into Key West first. A year ago, the state park was booked as were most of the private campgrounds. (Turns out this was a good thing for us as these places were devastated by the hurricanes this Fall).  Looking a bit further North, we spotted John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park I read up on it, and we were able to book a site for the beginning of December for one week! Then as we continued on building our itinerary, we knew we had a warmer place for that time period. Then came the storms of September with a direct impact on the Florida Keys! We waited to see how the park did as the news reported great damage to the area. If the park was not able to open, we’d need to do some scrambling to find new sites until our swing westward by Christmas. The park website kept reporting for weeks that they were working on getting things cleaned up after major storm damage. Finally in mid November, we called and YES!! They were once again able to offer camping! (We were later informed that one state park farther South no longer has its camping area that was right on the beach- it doesn’t exist)

JPSP boat channel - you bring your own or rent

observation area

Beach restored for swimming

Delightful temps of high 70’s during the days with blue skies and a nice breeze were shorts and t shirt  weather all day and night. Great for biking, kayaking and of course - dog walking.

warm and sunny - hat a must

Friday night we walked around and saw the massive effort that was made to clean up the park and get things moving towards normal. The concessions- scuba diving, snorkling, kayaking and boat rentals were on line but operating from temporary offices brought in til permanent repairs can be completed.

visitors center and canteen still getting renovated

Our first full day we opted to take the glass bottom boat tour over the only coral reef on the East Coast! Corals, Barracudas, Star Fish and even a Sea Turtle (at a distance) were observed. Our guide, Cathy, did a great job (a Dramine helped as well). She was very passionate about the reef and shared that her dad was a commercial spear fisherman!

only coral reef  on the East Coast

Glass Bottom Boat - nice tour

Sunday we took the Ranger Nature Walk. We learned about the 3 kinds of Mangrove trees - red, white and black that can filter out salt water, the Mahogany Tree and the Poisonwood Tree- even the bark, which has bumps and a shiny surface can give a severe reaction like our Poison Ivy does, and of course Palm Trees. The Ranger, when asked about the damage in September, shared that they were out of the area for 6 days, and due to the damage to their home, living in their RV ever since. They are working at the park all week and gutting and rebuilding their house at night and off days! Paradise has its rough edges.


Trips to the library for faster internet access, a trip down US1. To see the impact of the storm there and patching a rough spot on the roof of the RV were things that took time as well.

mile after mile, they scoop it up and large trucks haul it away, 3 months later!

still working at it - saw a boat on its side in a yard

wait to work on roof til it dries off

The first several days had constant 15 mph winds, so we held off on Kayaking. Then on Wednesday they subsided and we took a 1 hour paddle in a double yak through the natural Mangrove area. Very interesting how they keep sending shoots out to spead into the saltwater. We thought we were doing really well until a couple came by on Paddle Boards. they were 80 and 82 years old!

nice paddle through a Mangrove area

We have reached the end of our stay here and shortly will be heading up the Gulf Coast.

Pilot House - featured on Dinners, Drive ins and dives

Thanks for reading.

take care

Cooper and CJ

Titusville Fl

Titusville Manatee Hammock County Park November 27

Departing Skidaway Island State Park bright and early Monday morning, we drove out to Dorsey Tire to have a valve stem extension added to the inner rear wheels. After trying several items on my own, we were in need of air and no easy means to reach the factory valve stem (very, very frustrating). The people at Dorsey were prompt and added the extension to the right wheel where needed, added air and we were on I95 South in two minutes. (Unfortunately, they did not add an extension to the left side as expected-this will be addressed later).  We had approx 280 miles to our next stop in Titusville Florida- Manatee Hammock Campground. We had made our reservation at MH last December as a place in the general area, but the more we checked into it, the more we were looking forward to staying there. With the devastation caused by the back to back hurricanes this Fall, we weren’t sure if they would be open. We had received a call from them several weeks ago stating that our site had been damaged by the storms and we could get a refund or another site. We went for the other site and WOW!! What a change. We were placed in the row closest to the water with gorgeous views of Indian River and miles away - Kennedy Space Center (the huge Vehicle Assembly Building clearly seen). A large portion of the park is still closed due to storm damage, including the water front, pier and multiple sites unavailable, possibly permanently. Pleasant temperatures both day and night were ours to enjoy.

sunrise at MHCP - Indian River

view from our campsite - NASA visible across river

First on our list of interests was to visit NASA - Kennedy Space Center. 11 miles away, 15 minutes of driving and we were looking at items from the beginning of the space age to the present. We upgraded to the guided launch pad tour and our guide was very knowledgeable, and included many interesting side notes. The bus trip took us to the launch pads where the Apollo and Space Shuttle launches took place and the Vehicle Assembly Building (the doors were open and the tractor and mobile launch platform clearly visible). A good bit was said about the Mars mission, they are working on the rocket now and if you know any 7 -17 year olds who want to go to Mars in 20 years, have them get their applications in. We also saw a Saturn V rocket, lunar rovers and.... touched a piece of moon rock as well as saw the Shuttle Atlantis. A great day.

Kennedy Space Center Visitors entrance - early rockets and capsules in background

Vehicle Assembly building in background - stripes in flag are 8 ft wide!

tractor taking mobile launch platform out to pad

launch pad for Shuttle, Apollo and future Mars missions in background

Shuttle Atlantis

Titusville is Manatee country, and the next day was devoted to Nature. The next day we drove through Canaveral National Seashore-  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Our campground neighbors (they have been Wintering there for 18 years) had mentioned that we should be sure to take the Black Point Wildlife drive. There we saw many interesting species, including a close up of the Roseate Spoonbill.

Roseate Spoonbill- color comes from eating shrimp!!

several Spoonbills along with Egrets, 

This is not something you could easily overlook. Many interesting birds and alligators were viewed closeup as well. From Black Point, we continued on a few miles to Manatee Observation Deck, overlooking a canal where manatees hang out on a regular basis. At first we weren’t seeing any, and then, rocks slowly started moving- Manatees! They slowly moved to a small inlet and there were over a dozen, mostly young ones hanging out.

look closely - those blobs in the water are Manatees!

Our stay here was rather short, only four days and we are off again!

take care

Cooper and CJ