Campgrounds in/near Ft. Lauderdale

[Bill Frisbee]

Last week (while on a short non-RV trip to south Florida) we checked out Paradise Island CG in Fort Lauderdale. The CG is located off Oakland Park Blvd in that commercial/industrial/residential/railroad "never-never-land" that lies between the wealthy beachfront properties on the east and the equally-wealthy inland residential developments on the west. It was not a location in which we would feel comfortable or safe. The CG is walled-off from the shabby neighborhood in which it is located by a high hedge and the units parked there appeared to be rather tightly packed. This is a part of Florida where $600,000 buys you an "entry-level" condo, where desirable land sells for an obscene price, and where every desirable location has been bought up for residential and/or upscale retail development. That Paradise Island continues to exist as a modest size RV park in the midst of all this speaks volumes about the desirability of its location. We would not go there.

Yacht Haven Park & Marina is also located in Fort Lauderdale ... just west of the I-95 interchange for the Ft. Lauderdale International airport. We did not get a chance to visit it and the web site looks interesting ... but the fact that it sits right off the end of an east-west runway did not fill us with enthusiasm.

In general, my impression is that desirable land in the Fort Lauderdale is so valuable and the pressure for high-end residenial development so great that retaining land for the sort of RV resort that appeals to our tastes makes no economic sense.

There is a KOA located west of West Palm Beach near Lion Country Safari that looks like it might have some short-term potential.

http://www.lioncountrysafari.com/

My guess is that any RV adventures we might take into Florida will be on the Gulf Coast (Tampa south to Naples area), around Orlando/Disney for short periods if the grandkids want to visit, or in the northern part of the state in the Jacksonville/St. Augustine area. If we are feeling especially well-off, we can always take a fantasy trip to the Keys (which will quickly eliminate that "well-off" feeling).

Bill