John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park Camping Trip Key Largo, FL

08/21/15 - 08/23/15. We found an available weekend at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo and jumped on the reservations.

Airhed was at the repair shop in Tampa; she had lots of work done (new shocks, new water heater, fixed shower and other work). So we headed up there early Friday morning to pick her up and then headed to our destination.

The trip there was uneventful except that we didn't have any cash to pay for the tolls which were $9. Luckily I had a checkbook with us. It occurred to us to call the park to book a snorkling trip and after calling we found out that all the tours were booked on Sat so signed up for the four hour morning tour on Sunday.



After checking into the park; we drove by the marina on our way to the camping area and wished we had the boat or the canoe with us but that's okay we found out they rented motor boats and kayaks! We also really wished we had brought the bikes with us to explore the campground as it is quite large.

John Pennekamp Marina

Our spot was okay and easy to get into. They were very close together so we chatted with our neighbors from Vero Beach while we were hooking up.  They were nice and even showed us how to start the new water heater since there were no instructions left by the repair shop.  After a little while the A/C started leaking into the camper so Wade spent an hour trying to get the camper at the right angle to make the water run off the back.  Then we decided to change the a/c temp and blew the breaker for some reason and the a/c wouldn't come back on so we re-set everything a few times and it finally came back on but that was scary because if we didn't have a/c we would have had to book a hotel as it was 95 with 100% humidity outside.

By the time all that was done we made dinner. I brought along a Blue Apron dinner that was a bit more complicated than I felt like dealing with in the small kitchen and decided our kitchen needs a makeover and that I need to make sure our future dinners are simpler. It was very yummy though.  After dinner we had some cocktails; wished we had an awning and discussed that our exterior set up was lacking and went to bed early.

Saturday we mulled over what to do all day (we clearly did not research this in advance which we should have).  The options were rent a 20' boat for a few hours at very reasonable prices and drive out to the coral reefs ourselves or rent a kayak.  After finding out all the motor boats were booked we went into town to see if we could rent some jet ski's.  After finally finding a place nearby we were quoted $90 for a half hour for one.  That was out for us so we went back to the park and rented kayaks.  The Kayak trails were neat but it was hot so we pulled up to the beach and snorkled for a while to cool off.

After Kayaking we decided to eat out for dinner even though we brought dinner :-)  We figured since we were in the keys we felt we deserved to have a sunset dinner with a water view.  After reading some reviews of local places we set out in the truck to scope the scene.  We drove by the Hilton hotel and decided that they probably had the type of food and view at their restaurant that we were looking for.  Boy we were not disappointed in our choice.  The Tree Top restaurant had great food and wine and the view was to die for.  We only wished it wasn't so hot so we could have sat on their beautiful patio but after being in the sun all day we needed some a/c so we sat inside and still had a view.  We were able to see the sunset from our table and it was just perfect.  We headed back to the camper and went to bed as we had an early morning to get ready for the snorkling trip.


Check out at the campground is at 1:00PM and the 4 hour snorkling trip we booked wouldn't get back until 1:30 so we had to pack up and make sure we moved Airhed to the parking area before out boat left at 9:00AM.  This was challenging because we had to check in at 8:00AM. After seeing the long lines and finding out that I could check us in and Wade could check in by 8:50AM he headed back to Airhed to hook her up the truck.  Well the power jack decided to stop working via battery so Wade hooked her up while she was plugged in to 30 amp.  We got her moved to the parking area and had a short wait to board the boat for the snorkling trip.  We decided we'd worry about how we were going to get her off the truck when we got home later.

The Christ of the Abyss coral reef area is only 5 miles from the park so it was a 20 min boat ride over there.  We completely felt like we were on vacation along with the other 38 passengers on the boat.  We brought along a waterproof camera/video recorder that Wade's mom gave us a few years back and that seemed to have been the best decision we made of the entire trip!  I am so glad we were able to get some pics and video of this amazing area.

After the snorkling trip we had to hit the road for the five hour trip home.  We stopped for lunch at a cafe and hit the road and pondered that maybe we had a blown fuse which is why the power jack stopped working.  While getting gas Wade checked the battery in Airhed and realized the battery cables were loose from the repair shop working on it.  That was most likely the cause of our blown fuse.  We didn't know where the fuse box was so I grabbed the manuals and poured over them on the way home and got educated of our setup.  We determined we probably needed a 40amp fuse so I called an Autozone in Naples and they said they had one. We also found that the repair shop locked the door that they re-installed for us after they made a replacement hinge and low and behold that is where the fuse box is. We realized we didn't have a door key, it was likely with another set of keys back at the house.  But we were still able to get to it from the interior closet.  That was a bear in the heat. So I went into Autozone while Wade dealt with that and found out they didn't have a small 40amp fuse. So we gave up and hit the road again and decided we would use the jack and jack stands to get her off the truck when we got her to the storage place which we did finally at 11:00PM.

It was a long day but overall a great trip!  We can't wait until some of the bugs of having a vintage camper get worked out!

Here are some more pics and video!

Wade Snorkling

Christ of the Abyss