Workamping in the Keys

[virgil47]

We have applied for a workamping job in the Keys for winter. Anyone have any experience to share, postive or negative?

[adelmoll]

We don't know anything about WORK Virgil but we sure will come down and visit you.

Helen and Bill

[virgil47]

You know you guys are always welcome!

[steves]

Stayed at keys right over the 7 mile bridge....Wow - a beautiful place. Sunsets and sunrises were awesome. Very expensive (4 years ago - $85.00/night and very crowded campgrounds. I hope you like the beach and or fishing as there's not much more to see and do - just relax. Just before the keys around Florida city is the Everglades - a great place to tour and spend the day.

[sailer]

we are fl resd and were in the keys for mothers day week and stayed at fiest key at a koa but it has been sold but the new owner has cold feet so to say so they are still runing it as a koa .. mostrv parks in the keys are the pits except the state parks but to get in you need to make reservations 11 monthes ahead and to do it at 8;01 in the am fl time .. by the way you call that volvo a pick up ???????????????????????????????
we looked at a nice paek ,, private on pine key but no pets ,, satae law as they have the pine deer and they are more presious than the manitte in fl ???
on marithon above fiesta key is nice but we didn't look for any parks there ,, but you mite see jimmy johnson running in the am as he does that a lot and lives on marathion
rates are high off season in may was i think 85.00 buck a nite , and we drove in lots of dives you could not get your rig in as its bigger than the park .. good luck ,, pm me if you need help as we have friend there rite now in marathion but we are in asheville . nc john

[Redrover98]

We volunteer at Curry Hammock State Park from Nov. to Jan and at Long Key State Park from Jan to March. Campsites from Oct to April are almost impossible to get. The sites are resevered via Reseverve America eleven months in advance to the day. This is why we applied for hosting/volunteering five years ago. I do know that Long Key is always in need of hosts from Memorial Day until the end of Sept. There is a long waiting list for the winter months. We hosted for three months the first time after May and they got to see how we worked.

There are also two other camping state parks in the Keys, John Pennecamp and Bahia Honda plus a day use park in Key West, which is day use only. It is Ft Zachary Taylor and again the winter months are booked but you may get in after Memorial Day. They have five full hookup host sites.

[mgdg]

Good Luck with your work camping in the Keys. I have been trying to get in to Bahia Honda State park for 3 yrs now. I sit on the Internet at 8am and hit the keys(no pun) and just can`t seem to get a reservation. We booked again at Lazy Lakes for April 13th-25th 2008. Its no KOA but a small park on Sugarloaf Key. We paid with tax $48.00 a night. Since its still winter up here in Ontario and Michigan areas, We look forward to a pre summer tan!!
We were there a couple years ago and enjoyed it very much. We went into Key West about 5 times in a two week period. We did alot of fishing and going to different beaches and shopping. We go to relax since the Boss still has to work a few more years. If I were to work camp it would be in the Keys, we love it down there. The campgound isn`t the best but its clean, quiet and all the campers are very friendly. Also when we were there last there were about 10 Montana/Mountaineers and a bunch of other Keystone products

[randye]

Good luck" We also have a workamper job starts as soon as we get there. We drove the new tv, had 160 miles on it. I wanted to get at least 500 miles under my belt,to know the caristics of the truck before pulling the montie. We had only talked on the phone and e-mailed the managers of the park. They just recently had two couples pull out on them. She was working the office full days 7 days a week. They wanted my wife to stay and work imediately and they would give her a cabin to stay in for free. We told them we had things to tie up here. We would work towards being there the 1st of July. Its great to know that your needed. Its a private camp, people own the lots and time share them, thiers over 200 lots and a good size lake with trout and two resident Bald Eagles there's various other animals that frequent the area. We promised to stay through the winter and on to sept of 08. Hope it all turns out alright. Again good luck on your adventure. later Randye

[VanMan]

Redrover98, when you "volunteer" do you get a free space and/or electric? what do your host tasks involve? how many hours/days?

[Redrover98]

VanMan

Duties vary with each park. At the parks where we work, voulunteering means basically maintenence. Mowing, weed wacking, painting,etc. Hosting means cleaning the bath houses, cleaning the sites after people check out and walking the beach picking up debris. We like the two parks that we work at because they are laid back. No work schedule per say. It doesn't matter when you start as long as the work is done. We had a chance to go dolphin fishing on one work day,so we cleaned the bathrooms at midnite the nite before.
Work about twenty hours a week,more or less, free campsite right on the ocean and two days off a week. We are usually done by noon on workdays.One park has water and 30a electric, the other has water, 50a electric and both have a dump station.

I will try to post a couple of photos in the near future.

Oh, in February temps are 70-76, but sometimes it may get way down to 55.


















The two parks we work at are laid back and not real structured.