I visited the Captain's Hideaway at your suggestion: really cool idea and well done in execution, but they were in process of selling. Wonder who got it and what is like after the last Hurricane hit not far south at Cedar Key.
Good question, it was top market price I am sure. I would have loved to purchase it, its almost exactly what I want however I would want to buy at least 4 lots and joining them into a single 'compound'. I have looked in the area post-hurricane and it looks like it was
not hit that hard. But based on where it is, it COULD be wiped out completely. I am sure insurance there is unimaginably high. Perry, the closest city got hit, but I don't think there was much damage in this little area.
It was an amazing campground in many ways and only was missing a couple of things that would have made it perfect. Like some heat in the shower house, a radiant heater would have been nice, and maybe some one to welcome us....it was pretty self-service.
For those who don't know, this campground was called "Captain's Hideaway' and has 3 campsites. Additionally, 1 was converted into a common tiki bar/firepit with party lights strung up in the trees, and the second was converted into a private lot for the owner's use leaving 3 rentable sites.
Site One was larger and had open skies for the big rigs. Site 2 was the tiki bar and shower, site 3 was the owners, sites 4 and 5 were more secluded rentable sites. We stayed in the one all the way to the back. The soil was typical Florida sand, covered by wood chips presumably from the trees were removed to develop the site. I anticipate that this would be a problem as the chips decomposed unless they were refreshed, but it worked while we were there. The bigs weren't too bad either, of course in was February.
All sites had 50/30/15 amp electric and sewer. They had wifi , and marginal cell service. Wifi was intermittent going down about 3 times. But cell was barely enough, but enough, to allow us to work for the time we had there, little more than a week.
The shower house was strange; the toilet went into the septic system, but the shower was just a showerhead going through an instant on/demand camping water heater. The floor was just 2x6's which allowed the water to drain through the sandy soil. There was no heat or cooling. The sides were tin, and open near the peaks. Ventilation was not a problem at all, but at 40 degrees the showers were oddly comfortable as the water was warm, but the dry off was fast
The local area was very natural -- crushed coral roads, with the 'big city' about 20 minutes away. Locally, there were several other camp grounds --- but they were no where near as nicely done. A restaurant, a convenience store...and a barbershop in a 8x10 shed out back of the store where right down the road. The gulf was about a 5 minute drive from the campground.
The convenience store turned out to be a GEM!!!! Beer and liquor selection was good, the dairy case was well stocked, and they had a really, really good meat case. Some of the best beef we'd had in a long time. From the outside, It looked like a typical gas station and bait shop.
I took a week of vacation when we went down, but my wife had to work. We were scheduled to go down exactly 2 years ago -- Early January 2022, but I had a surprise visit from Covid and we canceled, rescheduling to late February. I'll never forget this little gem. Sadly its gone now.
The funniest event was when my wife excited started talking about a pig, or hog...right over there...in Florida can be the beginning of a very bad time. My father-in-law used to take an AR with him whenever he left his house because he had been charged a couple of times. If you live in the wild near water packing heat is more than just a good idea down there.
Me, I'm freaking out since I was not carrying anything more than a 3 1/2-inch folding pocket knife. I was expecting a tusked boar hog. I finally found the animal in my field of vision...the poor thing looked like it was about to pop, and running was just not on her schedule. I suspect her name was Daisy and belonged to the neighbors. This was taken about 50 years away, probably 300 pounds of fat there.
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Our trip ended when the wifi and cell service went down. Since we were both "working" at that time we needed wifi quickly. We packed and left early, knowing the main roads would have something. This worked out fine since the afternoon looked like miserable rain and winds followed by an EARLY morning packout, we needed to be on the road by 7 as I recall.
We did have 3 or 4 days of "fun" while we were there. We got to see a part of the sunshine state that is devoid of mouse ears and crowds, and I have to say...I liked it, a lot.
Today? Were home --- just getting over Covid #2 for both of us. Tomorrow I can leave the house. Which is good, we're getting low on supplies. Plenty of Columbian roast though, its the "Cream Emergency" that is brewing that has me concerned. Got to have cream in my plunger brewed coffee. Speaking of which...the cup is empty.
I hope everyone has an awesome weekend, as it is drawing closer. Just need 40 degrees more --- too cold to go outside.