This is a story that almost wasn’t. As the old saying goes, the first impression can be a lasting one, well not this time. When it comes to Long Point Park Campground, rest assured Cindy’s first impression was terrible. We were camping a few miles south of Long Point at Sebastian Inlet. Since we had a reservation there we decided to take the short ride to the campground to see what it was like. It happened to be Mother’s Day Weekend, and of course the campground was totally booked. This being the largest campground we had been to so far, Cindy was excited to see what it was going to be all about.
To Cindy’s horror, she was totally shocked. This campground was wall to wall people, R.V.s, tents, boats, and more people. There was so much going on and so crowded, that we could hardly tell where one camp site started and one ended. It looked like mass confusion. Cindy was very adamant that she did not want to ever go back there to camp. I told her she had to give it a chance, she agreed, but unwillingly. A few weeks later we arrived for our reservation and the campground wasn’t as busy, so Cindy felt better upon arriving at our camp site.
As the weekend progressed and we got out and mingled with the people, it didn’t take long for her to realize what the crowd was all about. She fell in love with this campground and four years later, she still considers Long Point Campground her favorite one. We now camp here at least four times a year; yes we make it a point to book this campground on holidays when the campground is at its capacity. This campground fits the bill, the more people the better it is. We quickly discovered that this park is great for family gatherings.
Long Point Campground is located on an Island in the Indian River Lagoon which makes this campground a fisherman’s paradise. Most of the outside lots are designed so one can anchor their boat at the back of their camp site in the lagoon or the river. Imagine how nice it must be to walk off your campsite right onto your boat. The campsites themselves are large enough to accommodate any size camper with enough room left for family gatherings, additional tents, and boat trailers or about anything else. Staying at Long Point allows for fishing in the lagoons, Indian River or one can boat south to the Sebastian Inlet and go out into the Atlantic Ocean.
In the early morning one will see many campers walking or jogging the paved road that makes up the campground circle which is just less than one mile. A few trips around this circle will make a great bike ride, or if you so choose ride the mile back to A1A and have breakfast at Long Point Restaurant. When we have our older grand-kids we enjoy the ride to the restaurant which prepares excellent omelets and pancakes. Being just one mile from A1A makes this campground an excellent choice for the beach lover. Just north of the campground entrance is a beautiful public beach. This is where one will find many of the family campers during the day. Because of this, we plan several extended weekend camping trips during the summer months with our grand-kids. In the late afternoon the kids will enjoy the swimming pond while the parents sit around the pond in their camping chairs and visit.
Late in the day it is always a joy when all the campers get out the camping grill or camping stove to cook dinner on. At this time the kids are usually playing with new found friends in the river edge.
A lot of great times has been had for us at this campground and we enjoy every trip there rather it is a full campground or not, but being running over with people is by far more fun. Cindy is really happy that she didn’t let her first impression keep us from discovering our favorite place to go camping. What a lesson she learned about first impressions.
Other amenities include playground, pavilions, picnic tables, wildlife pond, nature trails, volleyball, horseshoes, boat dock, Scout Island for primitive group tent camping, and fish cleaning station.
