Crowds in the Keys ?

[gmctoyman]

Trying to decide whether to head for the Keys, or go to Q'site again. I know what the crowds are around Q'site, but have no knowledge of the Keys.

[cjoseph]

I don't think it is misleading at all.

I simply stated that if the OP is only looking for warm weather, anyplace warm will do. In addition to warmth, the Keys have two things that you won't find anywhere else assessable by RV in the winter. Those are white sand and blue water. What's misleading about that?

I don't think I said miles and miles of white sandy beaches. Anyway, a person can only enjoy one beach at a time, so what difference does it make if there are only a few.

We love Sandspur. You can wade out to what seems like a mile in soft white sand and still see the bottom. That right there is worth the cost of the trip in our book.

Sombrero Beach on Marathon is one pretty nice white sandy beach too. We don't go to Pennycamp,but we do go next door to the Navy Annex. That beach has a lot of ground up coral, so water shoes are a must. We go there for the kids to snorkel without the need for a boat trip to get there. I imagine once our 7 year old gets bigger, we won't go there anymore.

So OP, rest assured that there is white sand in the Keys, and it does look beautiful next to that aqua-marine blue water. If you are looking for white sandy beaches, they are there too, but you have to look for them.

[DaRitz]

We stayed at the Blue Waters RV park which is 10 miles outside of Key West. It is a very upscale park, but as I recall the rent in March was quite reasonable. One can rent there, but few can afford to buy the pads I suspect.

[hoopers]

If you like crowds, beaches, and nice winter weather, just move to Los Angeles.;)
(sarcasm here)

[NanciL]

tegu69 wrote:
I don't think its misleading. There is plenty of white sand, mostly under the blue water.

Misleading again!
We are kayakers and have been to every off shore Key there is down her.
There is a smattering of sand here and there, but mostly the bottom is hard dead coral (marl) or sea grass and mud
My biggest disappointment 40 years ago was the "beach" at John Pennekamp SP
Now I like to tall it like it is just so newbies won't be disappointed.
With all that said, the colors of the water are absolutely beautiful and we know where there are some nice sandy beaches out at the end of the Snipe Keys and the Mud Keys and a few others. You just need a kayak and a proper tide to get there and back in a day.

Jack L





Jack L

[tegu69]

I don't think its misleading. There is plenty of white sand, mostly under the blue water.

[Puddles]

NanciL wrote:

cjoseph wrote:
If its warm weather you are looking for, you can most likely get that in Arizona.

If its blue water and white sand, well, that's why the Keys are crowded in winter.

That and the party atmosphere.

Sandspur Beach, Bahia Honda

You shouldn't be misleading people who have never been to the Keys.
It can be a big disappointment for those that have been to large open beaches on the east coast or the Gulf Coast.

Warm weather yes, but You will only find a few places on the entire keys that have a beach like Sandspur at Bahia Honda. Most are either shallow with ground up coral or muddy
We winter here every year, and I am typing this from Bahia Honda SP where we are right now.

Jack L

X2

[NanciL]

cjoseph wrote:
If its warm weather you are looking for, you can most likely get that in Arizona.

If its blue water and white sand, well, that's why the Keys are crowded in winter.

That and the party atmosphere.

Sandspur Beach, Bahia Honda

You shouldn't be misleading people who have never been to the Keys.
It can be a big disappointment for those that have been to large open beaches on the east coast or the Gulf Coast.

Warm weather yes, but You will only find a few places on the entire keys that have a beach like Sandspur at Bahia Honda. Most are either shallow with ground up coral or muddy
We winter here every year, and I am typing this from Bahia Honda SP where we are right now.

Jack L

[cjoseph]

If its warm weather you are looking for, you can most likely get that in Arizona.

If its blue water and white sand, well, that's why the Keys are crowded in winter.

That and the party atmosphere.

Sandspur Beach, Bahia Honda

[Luke_Porter]

I live on Big Pine, a few miles down the road from Bahia Honda. I go over there about every day.

Lots of misinformation in this thread!

Enjoy Q!----again.

[NanciL]

gmctoyman wrote:
From the sounds of it, I think I'll go to QuartzSite. Hard for me to believe that there are RV'ers out ther who don't know about Q !

Thanks for the replies!

OK, I'll bite.
I have been RV'n for fifteen years and have seen the name, but keep wondering where it is. Is it a City, County, and in what state?
Also what is the big attraction.
We winter in the Keys every year and never plan on not wintering here, but it would be interesting to know about it.

Jack L

[gmctoyman]

From the sounds of it, I think I'll go to QuartzSite. Hard for me to believe that there are RV'ers out ther who don't know about Q !

Thanks for the replies!

[drsolo]

I dont know what Quartzite is. But I have camped on the Keys in winter and summer. The state parks are full, people reserve online the minute they open but there may be some sites reserved for "drive ins". Key West is fabulous, full of young people and excitement especially along the beach drive. I have camped on Key Largo and Grassy Key and didnt need reservations much ahead, called the day before. But then I have a 17' RVan in a pull thru site. Summer on the Keys the water is really warm, my DH got scuba training and did some snorkeling. There are wonderful bicycle trails. It is pricier than other places in Florida. There are festivals at certain times of the year when even the private RV parks are filled so best to check ahead on those.

[Jim_Shoe]

I'm not a fan of anyplace that draws huge numbers of rigs and drunks during certain times of the year. Key West and Quartzite both qualify.

[FlatBroke]

If I could aford it that's a no brainer. The Keys. We are 40 miles from Quarzite, for the past 10 winters,at the Colorado river. A couple of hours every other year to Quarzite is enough. Can't see why anyone wants to camp in the desert with a gazillions of folks. Not for me. At least I got the river to look at and play in every day.

[tegu69]

hoopers wrote:
I know the highway down to the keys gets bumper to bumper and can be real slow. We tried to go down there for a day visit and gave up after all the traffic.

There's a reason that they never made it four lanes on the eighteen mile stretch. I think they used to open the Jewfish Creek bridge once in a while, just to create a break in traffic on holidays. Now, there are enough traffic lights that make the breaks.