$24.45. That's what it cost us last year to cancel a Labor Day weekend at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, four days out, because a tropical system showed up in the forecast. It came to very little, and I spent that long weekend at home watching radar loops and feeling a bit silly. This month we finally took the trip we owed ourselves, with one big difference: this time we brought a camper with an air conditioner.
We went Friday, July 17, to Sunday the 19th, two nights on a site with water and electric. Key Largo is only about an hour from our house in Kendall, which makes Pennekamp the easiest tow we have. No Seven Mile Bridge this time, just the Turnpike to Florida City and the long, straight run of US-1 down to the island, with the camper tracking along quietly behind us.
91 degrees and a 30-amp plug
It was 91°F both afternoons with the dew point around 77. In a tent we wouldn't have considered it. Dana's 70 rule bends for 30-amp sites now, and this is exactly why. The roof AC held the inside of the pop-up near 78 in full afternoon sun, which isn't cold, but with the Ryobi fan pushing air across the kids' end it was comfortable enough to read, nap and play a very long game of Uno while a thunderstorm sat over the park on Saturday.
Shade, bugs, bathroom: almost no shade on our site, no-see-ums at dusk that found Maya's ankles within minutes, and a bathhouse close enough that Nico could walk over with his headlamp while one of us watched from the camper door. We ate dinners inside the screen shelter, which solved most of the bug problem, if not all of Maya's opinions about it.
The snorkel tour
Saturday morning, Maya and I took the park's snorkel boat out to the reef, $98 for the two of us. It was her first time snorkeling from a boat instead of wading in from a beach like we did at Bahia Honda in March. We both wore the inflatable vests the crew handed out, and I kept a hand near her for the first few minutes, until she shook it off.
The reef was busy: parrotfish crunching on coral, a school of sergeant majors that followed us around like we owed them money, brain coral bigger than our camp table and one barracuda that hung in place and watched us with total disinterest. What Maya didn't see underwater was a sea turtle, which was the only thing on her list. Then, on the ride back, the captain slowed down and pointed, and a turtle's head came up for a breath maybe thirty feet off the side. In her nature journal that night she wrote "TURTLE (from boat)" and, underneath, "counts."
Dana and Nico had their own morning in the swim area near the beach, where Nico, at six, practiced with his mask in water up to his chest. We'd decided he wasn't ready for an open-water reef with chop and a boat ladder. He disagreed with that decision for most of lunch.
Mangroves before the heat
Sunday at 8 a.m. we rented two double kayaks for an hour, $40, and paddled into the mangrove trail. Maya and Dana took one, Nico and I took the other, and Nico's paddle was mostly decorative. The water in the tunnels was still and clear, with the roots close enough to touch, and the bottom was dotted with upside-down jellyfish pulsing on the sand, which Maya identified before I could. Nico wanted to touch one. The answer was no, and he took it well, for him.
We stopped at Robert Is Here on the drive home for milkshakes. I logged them under groceries, which Dana says is cheating.
What it cost
- Campsite, two nights: $91
- Gas: $44
- Snorkel tour for Maya and me: $98
- Kayak rental: $40
- Groceries: $66
- Ice and propane: $12
- Cat sitter: $30
Total: $381, about $190 a night. Not our cheapest weekend, mostly because of the tour, but the tour is the part Maya will be talking about until Christmas. A year late and $24.45 lighter, I'll take it.
