Community Forums

WFretz · 08-23-2020, 08:15 AM

My wife and I will be going to Florida in October.... we live with and take care of my parents in their home in Sebastian.
We plan to take a week or two away from our caretaker duties and just go somewhere to chill out and relax.... Do you think there will be openings in say November? Thinking between the virus and closed borders there may be room in some of the state parks at least?

tanman32225 · 08-23-2020, 08:27 AM

Welcome to Florida. The Fla state parks are open but try to make reservations asap. What happens is many prebook at several different campgrounds at the same time tying up slots others could use. If they cancel before 24 hours, i think or it may be 48 hrs, they get their refund. By multibookings they ensure several different places to go only to decide a day or two before. Its wrong and prohibits others from finding an opening at a Fla state park.

There are many parks in Florida offering many different avenues of relaxation depending on what you are seeking. One that we like is the Florida State Caverns state park in Marianna, Fl. Nice tour of the Fla caverns and we always enjoy canoeing. It is seldom full.

Happy camping

van-gogh · 08-23-2020, 08:32 AM

Here are a few RV Parks near where your Mother lives which may be of some help in making contact with them to reserve a space.
https://www.google.com/maps/search/S...80.5252187,12z

Here is another Helpful Florida RV Park locator to reserve a SPACE for the time you wish to arrive. This will show CENTRAL FLORIDA.
https://www.campflorida.com/Regions/Central-Florida/ Hurrican Season is over in NOVEMEBR and YES Florida is full of SNOWBIRDS during the winter Months and a general helpful FLorida tool is MYFLORIDA.GOV MyFlorida.com - The Official Portal of the State of Florida

Here are some STATE PARKS IN THE AREA:
https://www.google.com/maps/search/S.../data=!3m1!4b1

The best thing you can do is call an RV park and make RESRVATIONS for the time you will be staying in the area. Folks reserve way in advance and I would suggest you do the same. You can also go above on the TOP MENU under CAMPGROUNDS click and click on USA and then on FLORIDA to get reviews by fellow IRV2 MEMBERS HERE. Hope all of this can help BUT YOU NEED TO CALL AND RESERVE NOW.

chindog · 08-23-2020, 05:13 PM

You'll probably find that all the Florida state parks are booked for the weekend days. You may find some spots Monday through Thursday. You would probably want to start calling private parks for reservations now. Snowbirds start arriving in November, and the parks fill up fast.

NXR · 08-23-2020, 05:58 PM

Last year, in late September. we booked a private campground in North Naples for December and they had plenty of room. They even gave us 21 days of Passport America discounts. They said that a lot of northerners arrive after the holidays and they were booked solid January through March and offered discounts into December to get occupancy.

At the Tampa RV Show several places were offering big discounts for October, November, and December. We booked the same place in North Naples this December for $500 for the entire month.

With many of the Canadians seemingly deciding to stay home for this winter you could have a shot at many places. Probably not the state parks but privates for sure, I'd guess. I'd certainly get something set up sooner rather than later and keep track of their cancellation policy dates, though.

Ray

traveldawg · 08-24-2020, 01:59 PM

You can easily book a place in The Great Outdoors in November. Most likely another place nearby too except Jetty Park. And I'll bet you even get into Johnathan Dickinson SP.

twogypsies · 08-24-2020, 03:43 PM

You don't know if parks are full or not unless you start calling.

Don't forget the county parks - very nice. Jetty Park is nearby.

Rockwood27 · 08-24-2020, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by traveldawg

You can easily book a place in The Great Outdoors in November. Most likely another place nearby too except Jetty Park. And I'll bet you even get into Johnathan Dickinson SP.

JDSP is a great place. We've stayed there many times. Two words of advice: 1. Park so the front of your RV is facing northwest. Use Google maps satellite view to check.. It will cast a cooling shadow on your patio side. 2. Never leave your awning out unattended. The winds at JDSP can rip it off in seconds!

Rockwood27 · 08-24-2020, 04:55 PM

If you have a National Park pass, W. P. Franklin Campground (a Core of Engineers park, just east of Ft. Myers) is a great island campground. It has 50A electric and water hookups. It will cost $25-30 with the NP pass.

https://www.recreation.gov/camping/campgrounds/233661

Toby Dog · 08-25-2020, 06:18 AM

The Canadians are not choosing to stay home. They are being forced to by mutual agreements in place by the US and Canada currently in place until 9/21/2020. Who knows if or when that will be extended but it's likely.