Just booked 5 nights at St. Andrews State Park near Panama City, Florida during the second week of March. It's our 30th anniversary week, and decided to take 2 weeks this year and get a good long vacation from work. Originally we were looking at Southern Florida, but changed our minds and decided to not drive quite so far (From North of Indianapolis).
So, finding a campsite anywhere in that area was a real challenge. Sites mostly were too small for our trailer. I compared Google Earth images with the State Park maps, so kept searching. St. Andrews won out. We would have loved to go back to St. Joseph, but they were 100% booked our 2 weeks.
So, after making the booking, I decided to do some back-searching on RV.net about St. Andrews. It appears there a lot to do in the area, but I'm more interested in the campground itself. Based on past posts, as recent as last June, it appears there's a dissatisfaction with the care and maintenance of the campground. Some even referred to it as a "dump". And others praised it because of it's easy access to all kind of activities.
So here we are a little later in history, and just wondering if anyone has visited there recently and can give a report of some kind. Specifically, condition of the campground? I mean, as long as it has running water, a decent dump station, the electricity works, and the trash dumpsters are routinely emptied I'm not too concerned abut the condition of roads, soft sand, and stuff like that. Hey! it's a beach right? and sand is not concrete. I understand that! I pack a lot of lumber with me when camping in Indiana. But is there anything else that should be considered (logistically) in preparation to go. I have lumber for under the tires and stabilizer jacks on the sand.
Another comment in RV.net annals talked about flooding. Is this still a problem? When we were at St. Joseph over Christmas (2014), we survived the tornado warnings, but many of the campsites were flooded out. Poor campers. Ours was dry, but we really felt for those folks that got hit hard. So wondering if flooding is something to be concerned about. (Not sure what kind of weather to expect in March).
Are the electric hook-ups stable? Is the water at the spigots drinkable?
I'm not too concerned about the bath houses as we never use them. We use the facilities in our camper. But, does the dump station have any issues. (we bring our blue tote).
Another poster made a comment about day visitors coming in, and a concern there was no security measures for the camp ground. Is this really an issue, or is the issue because day visitors are just using the beach areas near the campers? I'm just attempting to get a feel for how secure we need to lock-down our belongings here.
Anyway, regardless of answers, we're already scheduled. But your comments can help us prepare a little better. By the way, we did stay at St. Joseph over Christmas, so we do have something to compare St. Andrews with. So any tips you may give on the campground, set-up, what to watch for, what to avoid, what to bring that might be unique for this campground would be greatly appreciated.
I do have a pair of knee-high rubber boots I use at home. They are rubber boots for slopping hogs, but we don't have hogs, but we do have deep mud in Indiana. I'll bring them along just in case of high water. Your thoughts and suggestions please. All comments welcome and will be considered very carefully.
