Photographic artwork

Our coach came with some generic artwork on a wall in the bedroom. But we wanted to personalize it a bit, so we replaced that with 12 photos of favorite places from our travels, printed on aluminum (so we don’t need to worry about breaking glass).

We laid the prints out on our bed to decide on the arrangement:

Artwork

How many of those places do you recognize? I bet there are a few stumpers. Let me know in the comments which ones you recognize, and which ones you’ve visited. See the end of this post for a full list.

The prints came with metal hangers, which wouldn’t really cut it in a rolling earthquake of a motorhome, so I attached Command Strips to stick them to the wall; these Command Strips come in two parts like velcro, so we’ll be able to swap out the pictures in the future if desired:

Artwork

Artwork

The wall in question, with some markers to guide placement:

Wall

Adding the first picture:

Artwork

Paladin helping:

Artwork

Artwork

Artwork

Artwork

Artwork

Done:

Artwork

Artwork

How many of those places did you recognize? Here’s a list, starting from top-left, with links to corresponding blog posts:

  1. Olympic National Park
  2. North Cascades National Park
  3. Yellowstone National Park
  4. Crater Lake National Park
  5. Devils Tower National Park
  6. Custer State Park
  7. Joshua Tree National Park
  8. Death Valley National Park
  9. Arches National Park
  10. Goblin Valley State Park
  11. Grand Canyon National Park
  12. Monument Valley Tribal Park

A huge improvement, and a nice reminder of some of our favorite places.

Yacht Haven Park & Marina

We stayed at Yacht Haven Park & Marina, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A canal-front site, with a boat docked in front, and food onsite.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-02-18
  • Check out: 2024-02-25
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny; rainy on the first day
  • High temps 72-80°F, lows around 49-57°F
  • A little wind, gusts to 24 MPH

Noise:

  • Nearby freeway noise
  • No train noise
  • Nearby airport noise
  • Some neighbor noise

Site:

  • #425a, front in, astroturf
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Unlevel, high in front and right; used hydraulic leveling
  • Wedge-shaped astroturf site about 45 feet long by about 13-40 feet wide
  • No picnic table
  • No fire pit
  • Clean site
  • Waterfront (canal)

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located (with no breaker switch)
  • 20 PSI water, very conveniently located
  • Decent sewer connection, very conveniently located (2 2-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 25 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 28 ms ping
  • AT&T: 200 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Verizon: 14-24 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 0.05 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 22-72 ms ping

Amenities:

  • Pool
  • Package delivery to office
  • Garbage pickup from site
  • Food boats and trucks

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Mega yachts and pizza!

This was a nice enough place, but a bit expensive for the current amenities. They’re building a new pool and clubhouse, but it’s not there yet. We had a Grand Waterfront site, but our particular site (425A) seemed to also be a bit of a placeholder site. We parked directly on the astroturf and our power pedestal wasn’t a pedestal, just a raw outlet with no breaker switch. Other sites in the row had nice brick driveways with landscaping. If they finish installing this site, it will be lovely. As it was, it was just kind of meh and we were paying for the nice view of the canals. Watching the big yachts come and go was very entertaining. There’s a nice NY-style pizza place onsite which was pretty decent. We camped at Yacht Haven Park & Marina in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Campground map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Canal view:

View

Superyacht:

Superyacht

The boat out front had a couple of cats, one of which visited Paladin through the door:

Cat

Rental Airstream trailers:

Airstream trailers

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Yachts and RVs:

Yachts and RVs

Yachts

Yachts and RVs

Yachts

Yacht

Yachts

Party boat across the canal:

Party boat across the canal

Food boat:

Food boat

Pizza trailer:

Pizza trailer

Pizza menu:

Pizza menu

Pizza

Pool:

Pool

A new pool and clubhouse is coming soon:

New pool coming

Shelter:

Shelter

Shelter

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Rental tiny home:

Tiny home

“Royal Point Waterfront” site shelter:

Royal Point Waterfront site shelter

Office:

Office

Travel from Ohio Key to Fort Lauderdale, Florida

We drove our coach 148 miles, about three hours of driving, from Ohio Key, Florida to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading back up the Overseas Highway out of the Keys:

Route map

An interactive map:

Leaving the resort:

Departing

Departing

Heading up the Overseas Highway:

Overseas highway

Overseas highway

Overseas highway

Marathon

Overseas highway

Overseas highway

Bird nest

Drawbridge

Overseas highway

Florida’s Turnpike toll road:

Florida's Turnpike

Florida's Turnpike

Rainy:

Rain

Tolls

Service plaza lunch stop:

Service plaza

Service plaza

Paladin at the service plaza:

Paladin

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Hard Rock hotel:

Hard Rock hotel

Turnaround:

Turnaround

Our destination:

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

Island ‘Ting with Sebago Watersports

We’ve previously done a few small sailing cruises, with about six guests. This time we did a larger one, “Island ‘Ting with Sebago Watersports”.

We wanted to do a sailing catamaran excursion. This one had snorkeling, kayaking, and a couple of meals and drinks:

Catamaran

Catamaran

A small breakfast:

Breakfast

Dolphin:

Dolphin

Pelican:

Pelican

Main sail:

Main sail

Ladder:

Ladder

Sitting up front:

Sitting up front

Catamaran:

Catamaran

People sitting up front:

People sitting up front

We wanted to do a sailing excursion, but the wind wasn’t conducive to sailing, so they motored all of the way, with a little token lazy sailing:

Token sailing

Underwater pics from the snorkeling stop; these photos from the 360 camera, which didn’t do a great job:

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

Boat

These photos from my iPhone, which did a better job:

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

Underwater

A small lunch; they really didn’t have enough food:

Lunch

Ladder to kayaks:

Ladder to kayaks

Kayak

Kayaks

They had enough kayaks for half of the people, so they split everyone up into two groups. We were in the second group, 45 minutes later. But we were right about the weight limit for the two-person kayaks, and moments after we got in, it capsized, dumping us in the water. So we bailed on that part of the experience. Disappointing. (It wasn’t just us, either; another couple also capsized when getting out.)

Portuguese Man of War jellyfish (GIF):

Portuguese Man of War jellyfish

The sister boat of ours at least bothered to raise the main sail:

Other sailboat

Back at the dock:

Back at the dock

Overall, a disappointing experience. We’ll probably stick with smaller tours in the future.

Dry Tortugas National Park

We visited Dry Tortugas National Park, one of the most difficult national parks to get to, requiring a ferry, seaplane, or private boat to reach it.

Dry Tortugas map.

An interactive map:

We opted for the seaplane, since it was much faster than the ferry, and we’d never been in one before. It was a great experience.

The seaplane is offered by Key West Seaplane Charters, flying out of Key West International Airport (a rather small airport).

An info sheet:

Info document

Info document

Our seaplane:

Our seaplane

Jenn got to ride up front, since she said it was her birthday when they asked if anyone was celebrating (we did go on her birthday in February):

Jenn got to ride up front

Just 10 passengers:

Just 10 passengers

Flying fairly low over the keys:

Flying fairly low

Keys

Keys

Sunken ship:

Sunk ship

Approaching Dry Tortugas:

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Approaching Dry Tortugas

A close pass by a nice catamaran when preparing to land; sailing here on your own boat would be amazing:

Catamaran

Our pilot, who flies in Alaska in summer, and the Keys in winter:

Our pilot

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Landing on water:

Landing

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Approaching Dry Tortugas

Handing gear to shore:

Handing gear to shore

Us in front of the plane:

Us in front of the plane

The other seaplane and the fort:

Seaplane and fort

Fort Jefferson, the largest brick structure in the Americas, started in 1846, but never finished:

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Old dock and the beach where we left our stuff:

Old dock and beach

Moat:

Moat

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Cannonball furnace, where they heated cannonballs to slice through wooden ships like butter, and set them on fire:

Canonball furnace

Canonball furnace

Canonball furnace

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dr Mudd was imprisoned for conspiring with John Wilkes Booth concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln:

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Mariners Beware! I was wearing a Seattle Mariners shirt, so found that sign amusing:

Mariners Beware

Dry Tortugas fort

Birds; Dry Tortugas is an important habitat for some seabirds. the adjacent Bush Key was closed for nesting season:

Birds

Birds

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Dry Tortugas fort

Pelicans:

Pelicans

The ferry arriving. Another nice thing about the full-day seaplane option was that we got to enjoy exploring the island for a couple of hours before most people arrived; just the 20 people from the two seaplanes, and a few overnight campers:

Ferry

Once the ferry arrived, we headed back to the beach where we had left our stuff:

Beach

A hermit crab:

Hermit crab

Bricks on the beach:

Bricks on the beach

We went for a swim. Here’s the fort from the water:

Fort from the water

We brought our snorkel gear, but the water was too murky to see much at the time.

Another pelican watching us:

Pelican

We went back into the fort to kill some time:

Dry Tortugas fort

Then back to the seaplane for the return journey:

Back to the seaplane

Departing Dry Tortugas:

Departing Dry Tortugas

Departing Dry Tortugas

Flying

A private island:

Private island

Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor:

Key West and Fort Zachary Taylor

The “Southernmost” Point:

Southernmost Point

Marina:

Marina

Disembarking our seaplane:

Our seaplane

A fun bucket-list experience.

Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina

We stayed at Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina, in Ohio Key, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A large park in the Florida Keys.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2024-02-04
  • Check out: 2024-02-18
  • 14 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy; rainy in the first couple of days
  • High temps 66-76°F, lows around 61-74°F
  • Windy most days, gusts to 32 MPH

Noise:

  • Significant highway noise
  • No train noise
  • Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

  • #406, front in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
  • Very level; used hydraulic leveling
  • Gravel site about 50 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Picnic table on gravel area
  • No fire pit
  • A bunch of small bottlecap-sized garbage on site

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, inconveniently located on passenger side (when fronted in)
  • 35 PSI water, inconveniently located on passenger side
  • Loose sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2-3 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 40-50 Mbps down, 40-50 Mbps up, 22 ms ping
  • AT&T: 830 Mbps down, 70 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Verizon: 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Pool
  • Swimming beach
  • Marina with kayak etc rental
  • Package delivery to office
  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Frequent food trucks and other vendors onsite

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Waterfront and road noise

We have a Thousand Trails Adventure membership, but that did not help us get a reservation here at all. Considering how hard it is to get a reservation in the Keys, we bit the bullet and paid retail for a two-week stay in a waterfront site that was the most expensive site we’d ever booked. I should point out that site 406 really shouldn’t be considered a “Premium waterfront” site. There is a peep of the water through the mangroves, but nothing like a panoramic view. However, we enjoyed watching the water and the ibises hunting in the mangroves from our front window, so I’ll let it slide.

While the peek of the water was nice, the constant highway noise was not. No matter where you are in the park, there is a constant hum of the Overseas Highway, although it’s somewhat reduced on the far edge and towards the marina.

The park has definite drainage issues. We arrived after a major thunderstorm swept through the Keys and there was a large lake at the entrance and in several other places around the park, including the road our site was on. They had pumps going to try and divert the worst of it out to sea, but it took days to completely dry up.

They allow motorhomes to front-in at the waterfront sites, which is nice even though the hookups were then on the wrong side of the coach. Luckily, we have pretty long power cables and hoses, so we’re able to reach across the nice wide site.

One downside of the waterfront site is that people think it’s okay to walk through your site on their way to the beach. It is not.

There are lots of activities and a robust social scene if you’re into that. We liked that it was convenient to everything we wanted to do in the Keys, but $300/night would be a dealbreaker if we wanted to visit the Keys again. We camped at Encore Sunshine Key RV Resort & Marina in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Griddle

Our power and water hookups were on the passenger side, since we fronted in. Fortunately we have a long power cord and hoses, so it wasn’t a problem (I didn’t even need to use my power extension cord).

Our site

I flew my drone for some aerial views; this first one is above our site:

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Direction sign:

Direction sign

Rental golf carts:

Rental golf carts

Rental Slingshot:

Rental Spyder

Mail room; quite well organized. People go in to claim their own packages:

Mail room

They regularly had food vendors onsite:

Food fair

Food fair

Food cart

Food cart

Birds in front of our site:

Birds in front of our site

Our coach next to a rental tiny home:

Our coach next to tiny home

More tiny homes:

More tiny homes

Rental trailers:

Rental trailers

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Dog park:

Dog park

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Marina:

Marina

Marina

Fish in the marina:

Fish in the marina

Sunset Pier, with a swimming area and fishing:

Sunset Pier

Sunset Pier

People checking out a grounded boat:

People checking out a grounded boat

Beach access down from our site:

Beach access

Beach

An old bridge, now a walking path:

Bridge

Bridge

The old bridge next to the newer Overseas Highway bridge:

Bridges

Birds and rocks

A glimpse of our coach from the water:

A glimpse of our coach from the water

Waterfront sites

Waterfront

Picnic shelter

A large, nice RV park. It would have been nicer if we could have stayed for free via our Thousand Trails membership, but the premium site was nicer.