It's not just Topsail, and I don't think the problem originates with ReserveAmerica. The presence of empty sites is something I've seen at several FL state parks. I think it's a problem with the Florida State Park system.
One thing I learned is that most FL state parks keep back a certain number of sites for walk-ins. If you're already camped in a FL state park and you want to extend your stay, you may get lucky and be able to move to a vacant, walk-in site. However, they don't make it easy. The following story is an excerpt from my travel blog from last year's visit to Anastasia State Park:
"Today was the day to try to extend our stay by one night. I had been told at check-in that the procedure was to return to the office at 10:00AM on the day we wanted to extend, and they would see if any sites were available. This seemed a little unnecessary to me, because we saw empty sites, dozens of them, all over the park. (We have seen this in all the state parks in FL: no reservations available; ReserveAmerica.com shows fully booked; but empty sites every night. There is a flaw in the FL state park reservation system.)
At any rate, at 10:00 AM I showed up at the ranger station to take care of business. I was the only one there. The ranger asked what I wanted. I told him I would be checking out of site 107 and I wanted to stay another night. He said that he would put me on the “waiting list,” and I could check back at 1:00 to see if anything was available. I looked at him. I told him what the other ranger had told me about showing up at 10:00AM. I looked over at his clock. I told him it was 10:00AM. He said, “Yes; you get put on the waiting list at 10:00AM and then at 1:00 you check to see if you can be put on a site.” Waiting list. I was the only one there. I told him there were vacant sites all over the park. He told me to come back at 1:00. I told him that I would appreciate knowing if I would be able to get a site, because if not, I would need to activate a “Plan B” and go somewhere else. He told me that I would be sure to get a site. I wondered why he couldn’t just assign it right then and there. Granted, checkout isn’t until 1:00, so people currently on a site have until 1:00 to stay and maybe extend, but he knows there are empty sites that he could assign me to. Grrr. I don’t do well with this sort of bureaucracy."
-Speak
