Ft. Desoto

also right near there they have a small hydro plane type boat ride where two people to a boat control a 1 hour trip around the area there and is navigated by a lead boat that narrates by speakers in each boat about what you are seeing as you cruise along. Great fun lille ride. Think it is about $64 a boat for fee's.

Here is GOOGLE VIEW of FORT DE SOTO PARK...


Sure looks like a great place to camp for a week to me...

FORT DE-SOTO PARK
Mouse click on the views that catches your eye for more info...

You can also do a GOOGLE MAP SEARCH EARTH VIEW and probably get a great SATELLITE VIEW of the camp site. Will give you a good idea what the sea wall will look like...

Roy Ken

Here is GOOGLE VIEW of FORT DE SOTO PARK...


Sure looks like a great place to camp for a week to me...

FORT DE-SOTO PARK
Mouse click on the views that catches your eye for more info...

Roy Ken

We were there last month, and I recall seeing people fishing from the campground. You can also keep kayaks at your site and launch from there.

There is a watersports concession in the park with bait for sale, kayak and bike rentals - google water sports rental Ft. DeSoto and you'll find it. They have a store inside the campground just past the entrance.

It's a big park. The campground has a sea wall around it and it is not a swim area. You drive or bike to swim from the beautiful sand beach on the Gulf of Mexico. I think there is a fishing pier over there, too. There are boat trips to an offshore island.

The kids will probably enjoy the old fort with cells and places to climb up. There's also an old Quartermaster Museum. You can see some interesting wading birds, often strolling through your own site.

You know your children best - I would have loved it as a kid just for the beach alone, but there aren't game arcades, movies, amusement park rides, etc. there or close by.

It depends what your kids want to do and how far you deem the surrounding area to be. Without driving off the island, there's beaches and water activities, hiking, biking, and some historical museums. There are of course many things to do in the Tampa/St Petersburg area, but it's a bit of a drive to get off the islands and into the cities—on the order of eight or ten miles.

You can get a campground map online here (pdf file). Site 101 abuts a seawall, so you're on the water but not the beach.

It is a lovely park and campground, in my opinion. I camped there with some good friends maybe a decade ago and remember the times fondly.