Key Largo and more clouds

Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Key Largo, Florida, United States
January 7 - 9, 2014

We had decided to make the first few days of our stay in the Florida Keys in the northern part around Key Largo, a short 100 mile drive.  The final 3 days of our "Key" stay would be in Key West. Our internet search had found, what looked to be an "interesting" maybe a little "funky" campground north of Key Largo in Manatee Creek. The website showed beautiful pictures of a campground with only a few campsites, in a harbor and frequently used by fishermen. The campsite we were able to reserve was small and we knew it was a risk but felt it could be an interesting adventure. Interesting it was.
The first clue was the access road to the campground which was barely wide enough for the RV. The short driveway into the campground was definitely narrow and would require some spotters to avoid hitting tree limbs on sides and top of the RV. So we stopped at the entrance, partially blocking the access road to determine what to do. The site we had reserved had been given to another person committing to a longer stay, the only remaining spot required moving the campground picnic tables and shoehorning the RV into a small space. The campground looked like a marine surplus and junkyard and some of the RVs were antiques not well maintained. At the suggestion of the owner we decided to move on. Good decision.
A quick call and we were booked into a recently opened campground with beautiful gulf side frontage. The Point of View Campground did not disappoint us. A good view of the gulf out our front window, big wide parking spaces, 2 fishing docks a boat dock and a brand new swimming pool and clubhouse plus some interesting neighbors. We were lucky to avoid the bullet we were about to receive in Manatee Creek and decided to stay 3 nights.
The weather was miserable for the first 36 hours. Cool, windy and a misty rain. Our dining experiences included Momma Macs which was geared for high volume fast service and The Fish House where we got an excellent lunch.
With rain jackets and umbrellas in hand for the first day we did some driving, a little grocery shopping and made a visit to a fresh fish market to pick up some delicious fresh stone crabs expensive enough to call for banking assistance but excellent for dinner when cracked open with our vise grips. Plus we got some excellent fresh fish for the next nights dinner.
With almost sunshine the second day we got in some sight seeing and hiking. The John Pennekamp state park had a few short trails we hiked in the mangroves and a small but good aquarium exhibit of aquatic life on the reefs. If we ever return on a sunny day we will take one of the glass bottom boat rides that takes customers over the state protected reef.
The last afternoon of our stay gave us some sunny warm weather. I spent a little time on the dock with some of the campground fishermen met some interesting people from Wyoming, Alabama and Vancouver, BC and got a little review on the campground in Key West we had reserved. The review from our fellow camper predicted we were in for another tight quarter experience. The prediction was accurate

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