In Key West we visited the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center, with fascinating information about the waters around the keys:
park
Key West, Florida
We did a quick visit to Key West, Florida.
Lots of golf carts on the roads:
And tour trams:
And bikes:
Also lots of free-range chickens (mostly roosters):
We visited the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center and Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, which will be featured in subsequent blog posts. But we also stopped by the beach in the state park for lunch, which I’ll include here.
This beach is one of the southernmost points in the continental US. Quite a nice and popular beach, too:
Direction sign on the beach:
We grabbed some lunch at the cafe on the beach:
Another rooster:
We had considered visiting the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum and other touristy places, but had enough of walking around, so drove by them instead.
Houses with nice Caribbean paint jobs:
The aforementioned Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, with a bit of a line outside:
Why did the chickens cross the road? No, really, why?
The famous Southernmost point buoy, which as mentioned isn’t actually southernmost, but is a popular spot for selfies, with a long line of people waiting their turn:
Really not our kind of town; way too crowded.
Video: Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 122 miles from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida, including a picture-in-picture from the 360 camera on the truck being towed behind the coach.
Travel from Homestead to Sugarloaf Key, Florida
We drove our coach 122 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Everglades National Park in Homestead, Florida to Sugarloaf Key, Florida.
This was a late change; we had planned to stay a couple of days more, but decided to leave early to avoid some bad weather.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading down the Overseas Highway in the Keys:
An interactive map:
Leaving our site:
We stopped at the dump station, which was rather popular at that time:
A bird in Everglades:
Leaving next to the entrance station:
Road works:
Entering route 1:
Our coach in traffic cams:
Overseas Highway, with an adjacent fishing bridge:
Fuel stop:
Paladin sat on the dash at the fuel stop, but jumped down once underway again:
Turtle hospital:
Passing Encore Sunshine Key, where we stayed a couple of days later:
Our destination:
Guided to our site (even though it was literally right around that corner):
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
We briefly visited John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo, Florida.
An interactive map:
Entrance:
Visitor center aquarium:
Gift store:
Cannon Beach:
Far Beach:
Big Cypress National Preserve
While exploring Everglades National Park, we drove through a portion of Big Cypress National Preserve, north of Everglades, checked out its two visitor centers, had a picnic lunch, and a stroll along some boardwalks.
Jenn collected her passport stamps at both visitor centers:
Exhibits at the Oasis Visitor Center:
A short boardwalk in front of the visitor center:
There were several alligators hanging out below the boardwalk; clearly on the park staff:
A bunch of birds, too:
Continuing on, we stopped for a picnic lunch at Kirby Storter Roadside Park:
There was also a boardwalk there through the swamp, a little less than a mile roundtrip:
Finally, Nathaniel P. Reed Visitor Center:
Also with a short boardwalk:
A bit different kind of swamp from what we saw in Everglades.
Biscayne National Park
Biscayne National Park is one of the rare national parks that is mostly water, on the coast south of Miami, Florida.
We visited for a sail, paddle, and snorkel trip.
Our boat:
Heading out:
Birds:
Map; we sailed out to Coon Point on Elliot Key:
Snorkeling; I used my 360 camera, but had some technical difficulties, so didn’t get many pictures:
Other boats:
Raising our sail:
Some paddling into the mangroves:
Sitting up front on the way back:
Lighthouse:
A fun excursion.
Everglades National Park
We explored several areas of Everglades National Park in Florida.
A map of the park:
A map in a visitor center:
Entrance sign:
The Royal Palm area of the park was closest to our campsite, with some nice walks:
Can you spot a turtle?
Here it is:
Also nearby is a relic of the Cold War: the HM69 Nike missile base:
Gulf Coast Visitor Center was under construction, so they used a modular building:
West Lake:
We were amused by Rock Reef Pass, elevation 3 feet:
Video: bike ride around Long Pine Key Campground, Everglades National Park
A two-part video, with the route and photos, then a timelapse, of riding around Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park.
Long Pine Key Campground, Everglades National Park
We stayed at Long Pine Key Campground within Everglades National Park, in Homestead, Florida. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A basic no-hookups campground within the national park. A little short for our coach, but we made it work.
Dates:
- Check in: 2024-01-21
- Check out: 2024-02-02
- 12 nights
- We were going to stay 14 nights, but left early to avoid some nasty travel day weather
Weather:
- Mostly cloudy
- High temps ranging between 69-84°F, lows around 48-70°F
- Little wind, gusts to 23 MPH, fairly sheltered by trees
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
- Generators during the day
Site:
- #6, back in, asphalt
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- A little unlevel, high on right and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Asphalt driveway about 36 feet long by about 10 feet wide; had to back into shrubs
- Passenger side grass to hedge of trees between site about 30 feet
- Driver side grass to road wedge-shaped, maximum about 30 feet
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- Clean site
Utilities:
- No hookups
- Used generator and solar for power
- Used water bladder and pump to refill fresh water tank
- Used dump tote and macerator to empty gray and black tanks
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 45-60 Mbps down, 16-22 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- AT&T: 145 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- Verizon: 25-41 Mbps down, 20-27 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 3 Mbps down, 35 Mbps up, 37-437 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- In Everglades National Park
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Basic campground in the heart of Everglades NP
Pros: Beautiful, large, private sites within the national park.
Cons: Most sites much shorter than listed and facing the wrong way depending on your configuration (motorhome or trailer) so you have to think creatively to get orientated.
Neutral: No hookups of any kind, so be prepared. We camped at Long Pine Key Campground in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Not really long enough for our coach:
I got my bike out, for the first time in months (we sold Jenn’s a while ago):
A path to the nearby bathroom block:
Dish washing sink:
Inside the men’s bathroom:
We were staying inside Everglades National Park, and did a sailing trip in Biscayne National Park (posts coming on those in the next couple of days), so we added those stickers to our coach:
A snake on the road:
Entrance and dumpsters:
Info sign:
There were some solar-heated showers:
An interesting way to park a coach; perhaps a bit against the rules, but a good solution to cope with the sites being too short for big motorhomes:
Other sites:
Tent sites:
The campground had a path to an amphitheater, where they did ranger talks (with my bike in the foreground):
The Long Pine Key lake:
A nice campground, despite the lack of hookups. We’d be happy to stay here again.