Best Campgrounds near Green Cove Springs, FL

If your idea of a sublime slice of heaven includes being surrounded by a body of water, complete with docks to tie up your boat so that you can rise early to hook lake trout, smallmouth and largemouth bass, black crappie, brown bullhead, yellow perch, landlocked salmon, chain pickerel, pumpkinseed, rock bass, smelt and northern pike (even though you are here in the south), then Georgetown Marina, Lodge& RV Park might just be the perfect place for you. I will add, this is a small fisherman’s town kind of place – don’t expect creature comforts here and modify your expectations that this spot is incredibly functional for those that just want to get on the water, fish and bring back trophies to carve up for dinner.

This RV park is a bit on the smaller side, and in all, there’s about 33 slots with FHU’s offering 20, 30 and 50 amp electric to choose from which the best of the lot being those sites (#1–#4) that are closest to the water or those sites that sit on the northern perimeter that are most isolated from the rest of this encampment thereby delivering a heavier dose of peace & quiet. Those sites that sit further back are quite crowded and offer no view, so look at this area as more of a glorified parking lot exclusively organized for RVs and 5th Wheelers. If you are a tent camper, this is not an ideal place for you, so I would recommend you look at other nearby accommodations. The gem here is the dock that will provide you with a place to house your boat enabling you again to access the lovely waters of Lake George swiftly and securely.

From an amenities’ standpoint, this watery outpost offers up marine fuel, docks, fishing and boating guides, airboat charters, facilitated gator spotting, bait & tackle for sale, boat storage, boat lift equipment, restrooms, showers and laundry facilities (that are just passable), scattered picnic tables and grills, dockage (up to 60’), airboat rides, narrow boat launch that provides quick and EZ access to Lake George, WiFi, concrete patios, pump out, fish cleaning tables with hoses, dockside lounge chairs, access to nearby springs, designated dump stations and a small marketplace in the main office that will sell you bait, lures, ice cream, candy bars, boat supplies, ice, beer and wine as well as souvenirs. In the event that you don’t have an RV, there’s 7 small cabins that this CG will rent you that come with LR, BA, BR that sleeps 4-8 people and kitchen areas along with screened porch.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) Whether with a motorboat or paddling kayak and canoe, you will want to be very careful to watch the swarms of manatee that live in this lake; (2) If you’ve never gone out to see gators at night, you really should give it a try and here with Captain Adam Delaney, you’ll have an excellent time as this is his specialty; (3) At $45 / night, $225 / week and $450 / month along with $10 nightly dock fees this is a very affordable spot; and (4) While there’s not a whole lot in the surrounding area of Georgetown, there is a handful of restaurants like Idle Awhile Resort that serves up an incredibly awesome breakfast with local fare like River Shrimp Hash and Banana Nut Bread French Toast, The Oaks Golf Club Café offering proper British Fish-n-Chips and other American-fare as well as Renegades of the River featuring a Tiki Bar and its own kitchen dishing out calzones, pizzas and typical bar fare like cheese curds, fried pickles and wings but the dish that steals the show is the Catfish platter.

Happy Camping!

There’s very few SPs in Florida that will put you right on or near the ocean as Little Talbot Island SP does. And to be clear, this CG isn’t RIGHT on the beach, but you’ll just have to cross the street, after hiking or biking 100 yards from the campground, to reach the amazing white caps here. As my post from 2½ years ago provided quite a bit of detail on this campground, I’m following up on that review by sharing more fotos as well as providing a topline update:

Highlights: (1) Very quick access to the Atlantic Ocean – and the beaches here are not crowded and incredibly well-maintained - some of the cleanest I've ever encountered; (2) Solid peace & quiet surrounded by ancient live oaks just dripping with Spanish moss; (3) Amazing kite-surfing just due south of here at Huguenot Memorial Park; (4) The SP Rangers are incredibly friendly, helpful and very professional; (5) Approximately 4 miles of excellent paved biking / walking on the Timucuan Trail that runs parallel to A1A; (6) For anyone wanting to take iconic photos next to the ocean, go check out Boneyard Beach that has hundreds of salt-washed skeletons of live Oak, Cypress and Cedar trees; (7) Call upon Kayak Amelia for a guided tour of the estuaries; (8) Key-coded security gate provides solid safety, especially being located right next to A1A, where the opportunity for random, wandering visitors exist; (9) Bring your own kayak and canoe as there are access points to launch from right near the campground; and (10) Should you want to ‘get off the reservation’ you just need to head north to Amelia Island where you’ll have no shortage of AMAZING restaurants to choose from and there’s also a well-appointed Harris Teeter that has wood and ice for sale as well as just about anything you might need to stock up on

Lowlights: (1) While functional and fairly clean, the restroom and shower facilities are in dire need of refurbishment; (2) The sites are fairly unlevel with roots from the ancient and live Oaks popping up here and there making it very difficult to find a decent level patch of ground to set up camp; (3) Some of the sites have dips and depressions in them, making those particular areas prone for flooding – which happened to us; and (4) Mosquitos, midges and bugs exist here in swarms that never go away … so bring your repellent as well as smoke fogger machine!

Happy Camping!

Located at the southern tip of Rodman Reservoir, which is one of the major water tributaries that you can float around the NE perimeter of the Ocala National Forest, you’ll discover that this backwater camping outpost sits on 7+ acres of heavily forested woods and offers up 3 distinct types of camping opportunities: RV / 5th Wheeler, primitive tent-camping and cabin rentals. While apparently long a bastion of this particular area, dating back to the mid-80’s, Ocklawaha Canoe Outpost has been under new management for the past few years. Unlike many of the CG's in the area, this river-front, nature-embracing outpost is smaller than most with only 22 sites available.

Situated just west of the tiny hamlet of Eureka in Fort McCoy, you will first spot the area designated for RVs, 5th Wheelers and trailers a moment or two before arriving to Ocklawaha Canoe Outpost as this spot sits alongside the roadway with 2-3 gravel pathway access points before actually making your arrival to the main office and beyond it, the main parking area. In all, there’s some 11 slots available with FHUs offering 30 / 50 amp electric, water and sewage connections along with a picnic table and fire ring at each site. Being next to a main artery of Rodman Reservoir, one always needs to be aware of elevation, in case of flooding, so what we noticed immediately, even before arriving to the Ocklawaha main office is that both the RV-designated area as well as the main office sit on more elevated land, which is a bonus in case of flooding. Unlike the cabin and primitive tent camping areas, the RV-designated area does not possess much of any shade. At $40 / night (and $45 / night including bath house) and $240 / week ($270 / week including bath house), we found the pricing here to be just about right.

For those of you thinking about renting one of the 6 log cabins that exist here, what I liked most about this particular set-up is that all of these units are located in close proximity to one another – we’ll call this the cottage enclave – which combined, share the community amenities specific to this community. Bear in mind, these cabins are not pet-friendly, so leave your 4-legged friends at home, or look to one of the other 2 modes of camping here. You have your choice between a one- or two-room cabin, both of which offer heat, A/C, furnished with bedding, towels, dishes, pots, pans, microwave, mini-fridge, small cook top and coffee pot. Each cabin also comes with a porch offering semi-privacy to take your morning coffee as well as brand-new Weber charcoal grill that sits in front of each cabin along with an in-ground fire pit. At $134 / night for the single that sleeps 5 (with 7 being the max) and$154 / night for the double-cabin that also sleeps 5 (with 6 being the max), considering the location of where you are at, combined with the amenities provided and the relative quality of the cabins, I found the pricing to be fairly economical. The prices decrease substantially to $109 and $129/ night respectively if one books multiple nights, which makes this a no-brainer for even a short stay.

With mi tent-pitchin’ bredren in mind, you’ll appreciate that of the 3 available types of camping here, the area reserved for setting up your own non-mobile, semi-permanent nylon camping haven will place you closest to the river, where within 50-60 yards you’ll easily be able to access the Rodman Reservoir from a decent-sized tributary. While obviously that’s a huge plus, you also want to be careful about knowing when it’s going to rain and for how long as this also would be the area that gets the most flooding if there was any. Another bonus is that the tent-sites ARE pet-friendly, so you can smile as those cabin campers stroll past your sites (while your mutt barks at them). As for the grounds themselves, there’s 2 different areas that the pathway to the river’s edge dissects in half with 4-5 sites being available on the one side and only 1-2 sites being available on the other, which will provide you with just slightly more privacy. There’s not a whole lot to these sites, where you’ll simply have a picnic table and fire ring, but you’ll be surrounded by a great tree line and solid brush, albeit you won’t have sheltered views between sites. You’ll also want to take note that, again, the pathway to the river runs through the primitive tent camping area, so while not heavily trafficked, you will certainly experience pedestrians and fellow campers coming and going. Cost per night for tent camping is an acceptable $25/ night (up to 4 people, and $5/ pp after that), which again, scouting the area and staying in a few other places, seems about right.

Additional community amenities not already mentioned include: community bathhouses with impeccably clean restrooms and well-maintained showers, ping pong, recreation room with board games, corn hole, canoe & kayak rentals w/ shuttle service, horseshoe pit, kid’s playground and a small pond that is stocked for simple, yet enjoyable ‘catch & release’ as well as firewood available for sale @ $5/ bundle.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) This CG is right on the Ocklawaha River populated with dense wetlands, marsh and semi-tropical forests sprouting sable palms, swamp maples, the odd pencil-thin towering pines and submerged cypress, so the owners are very smart to have organized a few different river experiences that you should definitely take advantage of with 2 different outfitters being Gores Landing and Rays Wayside, both of which offer up canoe ($52 / $85), solo ($42 / $75) and tandem ($62 / $95) kayak rentals as well as transport ($25 / $60) with respective pricing and seasonal availability. There’s even overnight river trips that Ockalawaha will help you set up, where pricing depends upon the specific drop point and number of nights you might be interested in. Please note that all of the above runs everyday except Tuesdays; (2) While you of course can get on a kayak, canoe or boat to catch some fish, if you don’t want to, you can simply cross the road from Ockalawaha CG and access the Wildlife & Fishing Area that has its own set of public docks and piers that you can cast a reel from – and in fact, these spots are very well-maintained and offer up some magnificent views of the head of the 100-mile Ocklawaha River as she flows southernly from Rodman Reservoir; (3) If you want to indulge in one of Florida’s greatest treasures, you’ll need to visit a natural spring and the good news is that there’s several of the state’s best springs surrounding you here, including: Salt Springs, Homosassa Springs, Deleon Springs, Silver Glen Springs, Alexander Springs, Juniper Springs, Silver Springs and Rainbow Springs; (4) If you’ve got fishing on your mind while in these parts, expect to be hauling in crappie, sunfish, small- and largemouth bass, catfish and bream; and (5) The owners Lance & Theresa are absolutely wonderful people that will do whatever it takes to ensure your stay is flawless!

Happy Camping!

If you come bearing an RV or fifth-wheeler, are 55+ and don’t mind living next to the swooshing 2-lane traffic of highway 17, then Bass Capital RV Park might very well be the perfect retirement sunset location for you. Located just a few stone throws from the 'Bass Catching Capital of the World' – Crescent Lake – this RV park(ing lot) is sandwiched between Crescent City to the north and Seville to the south. What this place lacks in terms of amenities and activities, makes up for being incredibly economical ($45/night) as well as conveniently placing you within spitting distance of both Crescent Lake as well as Florida’s second largest body of water, Lake George.

As for Bass Capital RV Park itself, this age-restricted retirement roadside stand is organized as a simple oval with a dissecting lane cutting through the fairly small football field-sized area, offering up about 60 or so individual RV slots, most of which are back-in, and just a handful that are pull-through with all offering up standard hookups (30 / 50 amp electric, water and sewage) and a picnic table as well as solid 8’ x 14’ concrete or pebble-strewn parking pads. Bass Capital offers up RV slot rental by the night ($45), week ($250) or month ($410), plus the cost of electricity.

Amenities: Clubhouse, Pet-Friendly, Private Lake with Fishing Pier / Dock, Community Events, Outdoor Storage, Onsite Laundr-O-Mat, Park Benches, Mail, Community Board, Doggie Park, Picnic Tables, Designated Trash Disposal and Endless Sunsets.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) If you are looking to get your angling on, I highly recommend booking a pro fishing guide over at 333 Fish Camp (you can check out my review on this spot on TheDyrt), which is just down the road from Bass Capital and if you do decide to book a guide, I highly recommend Cole, who is the onsite angling ombudsman who will not only educate you on how to fish, but more importantly, WHERE to fish at Lake Crescent; (2) If you have kayaks and canoes entowe, I highly recommend dipping them into Lake George over by Pine Island RV & Marina (you can check out my review on this spot on TheDyrt), where they have a proper boat launch, or you can simply push off from any of the lake edges that make up Lake George Conservation Area; and (3) When you get tired of trying to figure out what’s next for dinner or simply want to try out the local fare, I highly recommend driving (or boating) a bit further south to Astor where you’ll discover Drifters River Bar & Grill, which serves up some fairly decent glorified American bar food, of which I highly recommend the fried shrimp basket, seasoned fries and/ or the corned beef & cabbage.

Happy Camping!