## Overview

 Ortona South is a perfect campground for a quiet, sunny escape to South Florida. the campground is set along the Caloosahatchie River. 
## Recreation

 Activities here are focused on simple, relaxing pleasures like fishing and strolling the grounds. If you walk across the dam in between 7AM and 4 PM, the road on the north side of the river provides a great place for walking and bicycling. Catfish, Largemouth Bass, Bluegill, and Tilapia are the most commonly caught fish at the large wooden pier at the campground. Snook are commonly caught at the small north end pier which is also accessible by walking across the dam from 7AM to 4PM. Several large bird species frequent the area if you are a Bird Watcher. 
## Facilities

 All campsites have concrete pads, electric, 30 amp and 50 amp, water hookups, a fire ring and grill, and a covererd picnic table. Other amenities include a sanitary dump station, restrooms with showers, dumpsters, Wifi (near west end restroom only), and a picnic pavilion for campers only. Day use visitors are allowed on site for fishing. The Ortona North Day Use Area has a boat launch and is a 25 minute drive by way of the Town of LaBelle. LaBelle is the nearest town and has stores, restaurants, etc. Laundry Facilities are not currently available on site.\_\_ 
## Natural Features

 The campground\'s terrain is flat and lined with tropical greenery , including the Sabal Palm, the state tree of Florida. The Caloosahatchee River to your north and picturesque pastures to your south. The South Florida Water Management District is constructing a Water Quality Treatment and Testing Facility, adjacent to the South East end of the campground. Construction at that site may affect the serenity of your experience. 
## Nearby Attractions

 Head west to LaBelle, Florida, where an annual Swamp Cabbage Festival is held the last weekend of each February. Or travel east to hike or bike along the Herbert Hoover Dike, part of Lake Okeechobee, and part of the 1,400-mile long Florida National Scenic Trail.

Ortona South

Great COE campground. Spacious  sites, with level cement  pads.Best sites are 21 to 26  back up to small canal with a lock. Fun to watch boats navigate  thru. Fishing on canal.
Also like sites 17 to 20. Beautiful  landscaping. Friendly, informative  hosts. Lots of birds, eagles, hawks and a family  of otters!
Two negatives- gate closes 7 to 7. You have to get out, unlock a hard to read padlock, open gate, drive  thru and then close. Hard to do in the dark
 Second negative- the bathhouses are clean but no shelf by the single sink and the two showers  are set up oddly where you have to pass thru one to hey to the other.  
All in all a great place.

 

 



Peaceful spacious sites

Arrived here at 8:30 pm after a couple of hours drive through flatlands. Didn't have any nearer choice from Jupiter because everything else was booked. It is August 2020. On the fly, found this site, registered on recreation.gov, and was given an email with the combination to the lock on the gate. Drove in. The site is clean and quiet. Lots of bugs on that muggy night. Set up tent. And slept peacefully. Bathrooms are clean, showers are good. Camped right next to the lock. The site is run by the Army Corps of Engineers, so everything has a certain look of efficiency. There was a night attendant who emerged from the first RV in sight after the vehicle entrance on the western end. Double water hook ups, full electric. No shade. Each spot has a roofed picnic table, a fire pit, and a barbecue stand. Very quiet. Nothing much to do here if you're active, save for going around the loop on your bicycle, lol. Great place to get away from it all and contemplate life. 

Stand on the East End, and Look up at the Starry Sky

We stayed at the other end of the Locks and we wanted to try this side. It was so cool seeing the cows and the Eagle’s nest. It’s so cool watching the boats come and go in the Locks. Very relaxing!  It has nice separation in between your spot and your neighbor. Great place to walk around or ride your bikes around. 

Relaxing at the Locks

Great clean park.  Make sure you get a spot on the river!  Beautiful! Tons of birds and fish jumping!  Otters and gators swimming too!  Neat to watch the ships pass through the lock.  Army corps of engineers camp.  Cheap!  Only 50 spots and is hard to get a spot!!

Excellent campground!!

Ortona South was one of our favorites on our recent trip to FL (early Feb). We stayed there twice for a total of 6 nights. We had sites 19 (not riverfront), 23 (riverfront), and 28 (riverfront). Part of me doesn’t want to share this place - it’s already hard to get into! The campground is quiet, but with friendly fellow campers.  This campground is very well maintained, with beautiful views of the river - complete with boats going in and out of the locks and various wildlife. We saw manatees feeding on our first stay and there was an alligator on our second stay. There is also a ton of birds in this area - both flying over as well as in the fields, and on a small creek feeding into the river. The riverfront sites are just so relaxing - so nice to watch the boats float by and watch the flocks of birds fly over in the evening. Note that there isn’t much privacy for the riverfront sites, but the views are worth it. Our non-river site (19) had great privacy and the bonus of birdwatching from our site. We had a peregrine falcon, an egret and a juvenile white ibis hanging out behind our site, as well as a bald eagle flying over. There’s also an unofficial trail at the end of the campground that leads to a field/marsh area where flocks of egrets, ibises, and cormorants fly into every evening. There were also Roseate Spoonbills flying over, but we never saw them land. The road coming into the campground is also great for a walk or run - we loved our sunset runs seeing tons of birds and beautiful views the whole way. Sites were paved and completely level. Looking forward to staying here again!!

Great Campground!

Have waited six months into our RV life to start reviews for fair comparisons. Spent total of 6 nights in 5 different sites(they call it the Ortona shuffle). Liked all sites for different reasons. Another peaceful, clean, spread out ACE campground. A birders paradise. Also have resident gators. Long entrance road to get in which we took advantage of to run and bike. It ends at the highway though so did not bike further. Nice biking/walking path out of the back of the park near the dumpster. Easy dog walking. Friendly hosts and fellow campers. Lock system was interesting. My husband not as excited as no real hiking/biking on site, but if like me you’re happy to sit peacefully looking at nature and birdwatching this is heaven.

Birders paradise, peaceful bliss

This campground is a Corps of Engineer facility with 51 sites with electric and water available. A dump station is onsite as you leave. Open year round the campground is set along the Caloosahatchee River where campers can watch the boats and manatees pass through the Ortona Lock. 

Nature abounds in and near the park. Alligators, osprey, quail, egrets, otters and other wildlife are frequently seen here.

The grounds are well maintained and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. This is a great place to bring the family for a quiet adventure in nature.

Relax in Nature and enjoy being alive

We love Ortona!    Our site, 29, waterfront!   So many boats going through the locks.   Unfortunately, the locks are still closed to people walking across.  Very clean, good long sites, and very friendly!   50 
amp, and water hookups. 

Beautiful 

This park is so pretty. It’s very relaxing and could stay there for a long time. The sunsets are unbelievable. 

Love this park

Tough to get in short stays only but well worth it.

Corp of Engineers

Very clean and great park!   Good size sites and driveways.  Walking and biking.   Great camp hosts.   Love walking to the dam and watching the boat traffic. 

Great park

Ortona is a great park!   Very clean and well maintained.  Excellent hosts that are friendly and helpful.   Always monitoring the park.   Sites are concrete and level.  Long enough for our 38 ft coach.   They just added two charging stations!   Awesome!   

Excellent 

Ortona South Campground, ACE campground in Moore Haven, FL.  We absolutely love staying here.  There are no trails nearby (The unofficial trail near site 21 is closed off due to construction up river.)but a nice walk on the access road out to the highway is a 4 mile round trip from the back of the campground.   Lots of dump truck traffic on this road from the nearby gravel yard. 
(Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(71yr olds in a 17’ trailer.  Our rating of a campground is influenced by the following: The general ambiance- sort of wilderness feel the campground gives us. Also, a selection of campsites which offer some visual privacy and/or scenic view is valuable. Cleanliness of the facilities that are offered is important and usually noted in my review. ))

Overall Rating:  4 for the spectacular views in most sites.  
Price 2023: $  15 w interagency pass
Usage during visit:  Full 
Site Privacy:   Open.  In our corner site , #21, we were able to swing our 17’ trailer around to offer much more privacy with the water view.  This could be done with a small van as well or an RV pulling in nose first. # 20 is the most private site. 
Site Views:  Some sites have very nice water views, others nice open grassland  views.   Noted below. 
Site Spacing:  Good  
Site surface:   Concrete 
Reservations:   Yes.  Sites in this campground is in high demand.  
Campground Noise:   Quiet. 
Road Noise:   None 
Through Traffic in campground:    None 
Electric Hookup:  Yes
Sewer Hookup:  No
Dump Station:  Yes
Potable Water Available:  At sites 
Bathroom:  One in each loop. Flush toilets.  Old.  Reasonably clean.
Showers:  Two showers in each bathroom with curtains which share a dressing area.  
Pull Throughs:   Some - in the first of two loops. Pull throughs all are in the first loop and include a double site.  
Cell Service (AT&amp;T):  3 to 4 bars
Setting:  Campground runs along a the Caloosahatchee River.  Open grass land with scattered palm trees on the other side. The campground road runs between the campground and grass land in the first loop only. 
Recent Weather:  80’s for 5 of our days.  Then it cooled off with some rain. 
Bugs:  Mosquitoes are around in the evening, especially . 
Solar:  Would be available in all sites. 
Host:  Sites are near the entrance 
Rig size:  Large rigs are fine in most if not all sites. 

Sites: First Loop, just after the entry station (31-50): SITES ALONG CALOOSAHATCHEE RIVER but view is limited : 32-39. 23 ,24 have a nice view up a waterway.
Largest site occupying largest area is on the corner (no real view): 31.
Fishing dock, access is between site, 32 and 33, and across from site 51. 44 and 43 are pull throughs, and do not offer as much as other sites regarding location/view.  Same with the double back in sites,45 and 46.  

SECOND LOOP, furthest from entry station: (1 - 30): #29 has a  palm barrier giving picnic side nicer privacy. Sites 21 - 30 are right along the river, all with nice water views. #24- 30 , are the best water view sites.  21,22 and 23 water views up the river are a bit limited due to vegetation on the riverbank up the river. All these sites view the river down to the dam.   Sites on the river side have more space between sites than the grassland side, 1-20.   Maybe that is so sites on the grassland side can still see the river in between the more spacious sites on the river side.  Across from #2,3,4 sites is the access to the dam crossing which accesses the fishing dock on the other side. The corner site, #20, offers the absolute most privacy of any site with a grassland view.  (I liked the grassland view sites, but I prefer the water views.)

 #1 has a building right behind it which detracts from, but does not eliminate the grassland view. 

 There are fishing docks on both sides of the Calossahatchee, but I have been told that the fishing on the other side of the river is better. The dam crossing to access the other side is open from 7:30AM untill 4:30PM.

All sites have a covered picnic table . 
