Florida Keys in January...

We are planning a trip the second week of January and will be taking my 17ft fish and ski... If the weather is ok we hope to get out to some of the closer snorkeling spots and a few of the island parks (indian key, national key deer refuge, Lignuvitea, etc...) We'll be camping on Marathon or Islamorada and driving from there each day.

I'm curious as to how crowded the ramps will be? I've only found 1 or 2 public ramps on each major island and most of them hold less than 25 trucks/ trailers. I know this will be the peak season so I'd hate to take the boat and barely get to use it...

Also, any other advice/ opinions are very welcome....

Thanks,
Austin

Re: Florida Keys in January...

I was recently reading on one of the boating forums about a guy that had reservations at a Florida State Park, and it was just south of Marathon. He was asking for guidance.

I think you'll find a place to put your boat in the water.

Just make sure you have good maps, as some of the waters get pretty shallow--even pretty far out from shore.

Re: Florida Keys in January...

I've never had a problem there. Have fun and enjoy!

Re: Florida Keys in January...

Thanks guys....

Just made reservations today for "Key Largo Kampground" from the 4th to the 12th. Looks like a pretty nice campground and relatively cheap too. They have a ramp and are only a few miles from Pennekamp State Park. We'll still be going to indian key, but probably get most of our boating fix from the campground... The lady I talked to said the most people go between christmas and new years and it shouldn't be too crowded.


I have full up to date paper charts for the keys and will be downloading the keys on my GPS before we go, so we should be all set.

Thanks,
Austin

Re: Florida Keys in January...

acarter92 said:

Thanks guys....

Just made reservations today for "Key Largo Kampground" from the 4th to the 12th. Looks like a pretty nice campground and relatively cheap too. They have a ramp and are only a few miles from Pennekamp State Park. We'll still be going to indian key, but probably get most of our boating fix from the campground... The lady I talked to said the most people go between christmas and new years and it shouldn't be too crowded.


I have full up to date paper charts for the keys and will be downloading the keys on my GPS before we go, so we should be all set.

Thanks,
Austin

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How did your trip go? We are going down in July and staying at a campground in Key Largo. We are renting a camper on a site already right on the water with a 40ft dock. So plan is to leave the boat in for the week.

Anything you would recommend?

Re: Florida Keys in January...

mnypitboat said:

How did your trip go? We are going down in July and staying at a campground in Key Largo. We are renting a camper on a site already right on the water with a 40ft dock. So plan is to leave the boat in for the week.

Anything you would recommend?

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Our trip was great, like I said above, we stayed at Key Largo Kampground which is about a mile south of the pennkamp park visitors center.

The water was too rough most of the trip to go to the snorkel spots (4 footers), but once it calmed down a bit we went out to a few of the closer reefs to snorkel. We really enjoyed the "Dry Rocks" which is where the statue is, and "glacian rocks" (spelling?) which is about a half mile south of dry rocks. We did try "french reef" and a few others but either the visability was poor or it was too rough.

One night was took the boat (from the kampground) to "Alabama Jacks" restaurant, which is along Card Sound road on your way into the keys (it's the alternative to Route 1). It was roughly 30 miles by boat, but we took the gulf side vs. the quicker Atlantic route. Alabama Jacks is a one of a kind place (google it) that is very famous dispite it's rough apperence. The food was great (not too expensive) and they had a very nice floating dock to tie up too. It made a very nice evening trip, on our way back we picked a spot and enjoyed the sunset..

If your in the mood for ice cream... there is a little place called Mr. C's on the right side of Rt. 1 if your going south (it's easy to miss). If I remember right it was a few miles past Pennekmap park (roughly). The ice cream was AMAZING, the owner makes it all from scratch.... and if you want a waffle cone he makes it right in front of you (it's still hot when your get it)

We went to key west one day and stayed for the street performers, we also spent a half day in the waters around Islamorda and went to indian key and lignuvatea key (spelling?) which were very neat. Indian key has a public dock for free use anytime during daylight. You can only dock at Lignumvatea Key when there is a tour (call the park for schedule), and I think the tour was like $5/ person. We launched at the public ramp at the end of Islamorada. It's a natural ramp (sand) and I wouldn't recomend using it without 4x4 and wouldn't if your boats over 18' or 19'.

Austin

Re: Florida Keys in January...

Sounds like a great time, albeit a bit rough at times as far as the swell conditions but you made it work. Alabama Jacks sounds like a cool place and it even has a good rating too!
Thanks for sharing. I'll keep this info in mind when we finally get over to that side of the world again.

Re: Florida Keys in January...

acarter92 said:

One night was took the boat (from the kampground) to "Alabama Jacks" restaurant.

Click to expand...

That place has given me many a hangover in the days.