Arrival Date 2/7/2015 South Bay RV Campground - South Bay FL
We could only stay for two weeks in a row at John Prince Campground so we went for a week to it’s sister county park South Bay Campground. This campground is on the side of Lake Okeechobee. This lake is very large and when there is excess water due to storm the lake floods into the area south of it which is the top of the everglades. Florida built a large tall earthen dyke around the lake to contain the excess water. This area is inland Florida and its rural with sugar cane harvesting as the primary business in the area. Not a lot of entertainment (eating and drinking) options in the area. The lake is not open water but water channels through low and medium height vegetation.
The campground was open, good sized sites, clean, full service, decent Wifi and reasonable price. The weather was warm and sunny. If this campground was not in such a rural area with limited shopping and lots of poor people living there; we would have liked it. But I doubt that we will return.
Clewiston FL was the next town around the lake and we spent a couple of days there. Clewiston’s top restaurant was Dixie Fried Chicken. This was a run down fast food joint. We went there for Breakfast with the King. The food was good/cheap and the owner was friendly. There was a shrine to “The King - Elvis Presley” in the corner. The people watching was a treat, bikers, town officials, teenagers, oldsters, sugar cane workers and everything else in between. A real slice of Americana. We also stopped by for a quick dinner one other night.
Bird watching around the lake was quite good. Lots of birds of prey. Hawks, kestrels, osprey and a nesting pair of bald eagles. There were a lot of Ospreys on nests on telephone poles near the dyke. I spent a lot of time bicycling on the paved path on top of the dyke. One day I set out to find the eagle nest which was about five miles up the lake. They were a mating pair of eagles that were on a nest. I spent half an hour or so watching the nest from the dyke top. When I started walking down the slope toward the tree they were in they did not like that so they decided to chase me off. They flew around in circles overhead and told me to get lost. I really had not wanted to bother them so I left but it was wonderful watching them fly overhead and I got a few good pictures. It’s amazing normally when you see them you are a long way away so you do not realize how fast they fly. On another day Linda and I were bicycling on the dyke when a pair of ultralights were flying over the lake. They came over and flew no more than 15 or 20 feet over my head! It was wild seeing them flying so close up. Another early evening when I was bicycling on the dyke there was a great sunset.
Mid week we went and played golf at Clewiston CC. The golf was inexpensive and the course was not upscale at all but it was fun. No pressure from other golfers.
Later in the week Linda needed a gambling fix so off we went across the middle of Florida to the Seminole Immokalee Casino. It was a full featured although small casino. We stayed there most of the afternoon. I played and lost $60 at Texas Hold Em. I then switched to Blackjack and did well. Although I could have left a winner, I stayed playing too long and ended up $100 down on the day. Linda did not have a good day win wise but she enjoyed playing for the afternoon. It’s amazing how rural the interior of Florida is compared to how densely populated the coastal areas are. While we were in Florida it became the third most populated state in the union bypassing New York.
