Good camping locations in Florida Keys?

This info is pretty old, but Bahia Honda State Park had a campground. Its adjacent to some good bridges that could be good freediving sites. Mostly though, diving, free or otherwise, is a boat thing in the Keys. I think bridges are going to be your best bets.

Connor

connor the no good with bridges is the strong current sometimes are there

Good point on the current. It can, and often does, rip! You can work with it, hide behind the piling, work slack tie,etc., but it makes it hard to get very far from shore. Again, a boat really is a necessity in the Keys.

If you are not very familiar with diving in current, BE CAREFUL! One nasty is to get fairly far offshore under the bridge during slack tide and not get back until the current is too strong to fight. then its "Cuba, here we come." Tide changes can be very rapid.

Connor

hunting off land is illegal in the keys, north of long key bridge. south of that, it is ok. bahia honda is booked up until late march already,btw.(we just checked yesterday)(xxxx snowbirds!-cloggin up the scene) you should come all the way to key west and get kayaks. there are lots of spots about 1.5 to 2.5 miles offshore here -they tend to be murky, but maybe you can get lucky. if you make it down, pm me. we go out 3 to 4 days a week lately you can jump on with me or one of my friends- if the wind pemits. today is ok nearshore. i am leaving in an hour to kill some stuff.

I have not stayed at Bahai Honda State park yet, but been meaning to check it out. One of my favorites is the KOA on Sugerloaf Key. It has nice campgrounds and a really nice bath house. At least it was. It has been 3 years since i have been there. You would still need a boat or kayak. And it is not that far of a drive to Key West.

Brian

i know this post is OLD, but i figured that if any one came across it that it might help. Every year in august I stay for a week at Bahia Honda state park. the rates are about $35 a night for tent with electricity, they have a nice bath house, a pretty sweet marina/ramp sell frozen bait,ice..... the near shore reefs just across the bridge on the atlantic side 500yards from shore are full of mangrove snapper and grunts, you can shoot untill you cant pull the bands back any more. under the bridge we get snapper grunts, a few grouper, yellowtail snapper, hogfish... great fishing and great spearing. you will have to go out about 5 miles to get some thing big though the patch reef in 35 feet of water on the atlantic hold a few keeper gag grouper and red grouper but they get shot at every day and you wont get with in 50 feet of them. lots of lobster around too, you can limit out every day with out much effort. the next island (actualy 2 islands over the next island is only about a mile long) there is a windixe where you can stock up on food of what ever else you need. Key west is about 45 min south a bit of a drive but I'm there to fish not to go to the clubs i can do that at home! water vis is pretty good if the atlantic is cloudy it is only a short run to the Content on the gulf side which will be clear. (gulf cloudy/atlantic clear, atlantic cloudy/ gulf clear, both cloudy HURRICANE GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!)

the hunting was good under the bridges with more targets than you could ever shoot at, you cant load your gun fast enough but make sure you have eyes in the back of your head for sharks there! There are some HUGE Hammerheads that live between the old bridge and new bridge at Bahia Honda that feed on the tarpon. I was under the new bridge reloading and there was a bit of current pulling me back from one span of the bridge to the other. As i was floating on the surface finishing reloading i just happened to look behind me just in time to see a large 10 foot long bull shark on an attack run. this wasn't a cruse by and check you out run, he was coming up from the bottom lightning fast and turned away just before my fins! It happened so fast that from the time i saw him to the time he jearked away inches from me and darted off was a second at most. I all ways felt safer getting in the water with my speargun untill that day, the reality of it was i couldn't even have moved the speargun a foot if i tried from the time i saw the shark untill it was gone! I was in the light up water between the bridges where the sun comes between them and the shark came up from the shaddow of the bridge behind me and darted off back in to the shadow, the worst part was my boat was anchored up on the other side of that shadow and every movement i made, every second i was in that shadow trying to get back to the boat i thought he was going to nail me! i grabbed the bow and pulled my self up laying on my belly and pulled my feet up out of the water and just layed there for a minute. I didn't dive the rest of the day, i couldn't my wet suit needed to be cleaned out!!!