TWENTY-EIGHT SITES, ELEVEN MONTHS OUT

Twenty-eight sites, gravel pads, twenty, thirty and fifty amp power, water, picnic table, charcoal grill and hammock posts already set. Beach access between sites thirteen and fifteen. A handful have ocean views. Accessible bathhouse with hot showers, dump station on site, no laundry.

The price is the problem

Thirty-six dollars a night plus tax for beachfront camping in the Florida Keys is, by any honest measure, absurd. Add six dollars seventy for the reservation fee and seven dollars for an RV hookup and it is still absurd. Which is exactly why residents book eleven months ahead and the good weeks vanish the morning they open.

How people actually get in

Two ways. Book eleven months to the day in advance, at the moment the window opens, and treat it like buying concert tickets. Or watch for cancellations, which are frequent and short-lived.

Florida residents sixty-five and over, or holding a Social Security or one hundred percent disability award, take fifty percent off base campsite fees. Proof has to be shown in person at a ranger station.