The northernmost point, Key Largo, is home to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which features 47 sites for either tent or recreation vehicle camping. Each site has a picnic table and barbecue grill, water, sewer hookups and electricity in either 30 or 50 amps. Nearby restrooms feature hot showers. There is a welcome center, snack bar and gift shop and two beaches.
Cannon Beach is a snorkeling beach where you can view artifacts such as cannon and anchors from an early Spanish shipwreck that has been placed no more than 100 feet offshore. The park's main feature is snorkeling tour boats to Pennekamp Reef National Underwater Park that depart four times daily. There are also glass bottom boat tours to the reef that leave twice daily. Other activities include boating -- there is a boat ramp and boat rentals -- canoeing and kayaking, and hiking along marked trails. Wildlife viewing is another activity, particularly on the beaches, canoeing and hiking trails.
About 40 miles south of Key Largo of U.S. Highway 1 is Long Key State Park, which Terry Tomalin, the "Tampa Bay Times" outdoor and fitness editor, called the best beach camping in Florida. The park features 60 campsites overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, each with a picnic table, ground grill, water and electricity. Three restrooms with hot showers are centrally located. Activities include canoeing through the park’s chain of shallow lagoons or hiking along two different trails. The Golden Orb trail leads to an observation tower for a panoramic view of the island. Long Key also features the best bonefish fishing in the keys.
Just over the seven-mile ocean bridge in the lower keys is Bahia Honda State Park. The park features two boat docks and three separate campgrounds -- Buttonwood, Sandspur and Bayside -- offering 80 campsites. Buttonwood accommodates large recreation vehicles, Sandspur is primarily for tents and the eight sites at Bayside are good for tents and smaller rigs. All sites feature tables, grills, electricity, water and restrooms. The park is said to have the best near-shore snorkeling in the keys. A variety of sea life including soft corals, small coral heads, tropical fish, queen conchs and spiny lobsters can be seen in warm shallow water only a few hundred feet from shore.
For an exciting but primitive tent camping experience, there is Dry Tortuga National Park, a small group of islands at the very end of the Keys, about 70 miles west of Key West. Accessible only by private boat, ferry or seaplane out of Key West, the park is home of the never completed or armed Fort Jefferson. Spectacular coral reefs surround the fort -- which is open during daylight hours for exploration -- and most snorkeling areas are accessible from white-sand beaches near the campgrounds. The campground is in the literal shadow of the massive19th century fort. There are only 11 sites and an overflow area. This is a primitive campsite, so everything a camper needs -- including water and self-lighting barbecue briquettes for cooking -- must be brought into the site aboard the ferry. The seaplane doesn’t carry camping gear.
