Camping with our Kia van (our 2024 conversion version)

 

Camping trip south 2024-03-17

 Left Kingston on Feb. 6th and returned on March 6th.

This is probably the final version of our Kia van for camping:  because not ONE additional item will fit into this vehicle.  We maxed out on space. This year, we managed to have a Porta-Potty on board, plus our 2 seater inflatable kayak at the back, plus our eBikes mounted on the hitch. Of course, the Thule was also on the roof.

This year, thanks El Nino, our weather down south was often cool and we did not wear summer clothing until well in the middle of February....but only during the day! Most evenings were rather cool and we called on our foldable charcoal grill to heat up our tent.

We left on February 6th and spent the first night at the Microtel in Winchester, Va. This was a brand new hotel and offered a very good breakfast. We had an early start early and spend the next night in a somewhat less attractive hotel in RockHill, SC. The Towne Place Suites by Marriott  looked a bit tired.. No need to return there. Compared to VA, SC is expensive when it comes to accomodations.

Our third night was in Georgia, in a state park new to us: Fort McAllister.

 

 We enjoyed the change to life finally among nature, and did not fail to notice the fish restaurant (Fish Tales) on the way to the park!

Marleyne, always keen to eat veggies, did not react very well to the lettuce and tomatoes of the fish burger. Her night was punctuated with numerous trips to the park washrooms. However, her reward was a close encounter with a very cute armadillo.

Next 2 destinations were in the Withlacoochee river area. We went back to Cypress Glen Campground.  We like the area for biking and kayaking, and thanks to our ebikes, we were able to extend our rides on the Croom trail, part of which runs parallel to the Withlacoochee river. While there, we met Brenda, also a owner of a Kia Van, same colours to ours. She was actually a local (lived only 50 miles away), and knew the bike trails very well and gave us some tips for bike trails. During a night around her campfire, we learned that she was an ex-sailor/cruiser, which led to a fun night of exchanges of cruising tales (we had been at the same places in the Caribbean). Nice evening.

 

While there, we had a look at a neighbouring campsite (tent only): Crooked River. The sites were beautiful with good access to another part of the river.  Surprisingly, 90% of the sites were empty, although the online reservation system said otherwise. It would have been a place we would have liked to reserve as an alternative to River Junction, our next park.

We stayed a River Junction before with our R-Pod trailer last year.  It is a great spot to kayak the river from here, but not so for biking.

The upcoming weekend was somewhat of a problem as it was a long weekend (President's D). "Luckily", the weather forecast was somewhat gloomy with rain and wind, and some people seem to have cancelled their reservations. Because of this, we managed to find a spot at the Highlands Hammock State Park near Sebring, Fl. We were curious about the park, it is one of the the oldest state parks in the US. First impression was: this is crowded! And it was! The park is huge but the area reserved to campers is small. So, campsites are hugging each other, Spanish style!  While the camping per se was disappointing, the hiking trails were beautiful. And the biking was pretty good. Lake Sebring was nice and we biked around it with a lunch halt at an old style dinner called Dimitri's. Wonderful fish! Cheap! Fun place. The weekend was not rainy, as predicted, but quite cool. Would we go back? well, may be for one or 2 nights to enjoy the rides and hikes in the park. This time, we had stayed 4 nights.

And the time came to move on to Donald Macdonald campground. Site number 20.  It is the third time we are here.  And would come back again.

While last year, the park had been unsupervised for a while, with washrooms and facilities in poor conditions, this time there was a host on duty;  and a very active one at that. He patrolled the area at least twice a day. It was a bit surprising to see that quite a number of homeless folks camping in the park. They did not cause any trouble, though. The washrooms were well cleaned every day. We stayed 10 days and in contrast to last year, we used our bikes much more. Due to this year's strange weather, we had numerous days with high winds, which did not allow us to enjoy swimming in the Atlantic as much as we did last year. And one of our favourite beach was closed (Golden Sands) due to maintenance work: the sand beach was replenished! Soil erosion was quite marked. Heiner managed a dip through the surf only once.  On other days, the surf and the rip currents were too much. We had bought a beach shelter to sit at the beach in the shade, but it did not get any use this year.  By far too much wind.

Instaed, we explored with our ebikes new trails, including a long ride into the Sebastian Preserve State park. We also hiked in the Preserve but found the hiking trails too muddy and preferred biking on these white and never ending sand roads, including ...

 

the beautiful Jungle Trail on Orchid's Island, which contains a scenic stretch along the ICW! 

When done, we used the rocking chairs on the balcony of the Chamber of commerce to recharge our bike batteries, our phones and tablets. Not a bad spot! 

And from there, we biked up and down the Indian River Drive, stopped at our beach bar a couple of times, even ventured to another beach bar in Mikko, the other side of the river, with many Trumpian flags sporting boats and houses...😕

And we kayaked, of course. This year, the narrow (southern) end of the Sebastian River was open, i.e. the authorities removed a bit of a tree that had blocked the passage last year. The launching dock is good for getting into the kayak . But to land, we preferred the small beach beside the dock. (A note to us: if more than 3 ladder stairs are showing, there will be not enough water in the river for us to pass over obstacles).

 
The first half hour was a bit tricky for our inflatable kayak: many tree trunks in the water, low water levels, fairly strong current etc... But after a couple of times, we were free of obstacles.  Although the wind was blowing 30 knots, down in this narrow part of the river, we did not feel the wind! It is a most beautiful stretch of the river. 

We did 2 more tours on the river, one from the northern end, which is wider, and back again to this the narrow stretch.  We love our kayak, and we love this river. 

On one windless day, we took the kayak to a launching beach of the Jungle trail and paddled in the mangrove.  Not very exciting but we had never done it. 

 

On the way back, we stopped for lunch at the Causeway bridge. We had been through here a couple of times with our boat.  Ah, memories!

We left Sebastian for Brunswick, GA where it was definitely cooler. That did not keep the no see'ums away though. Marleyne made ample use of Off spray, while Heiner braved the beasts while cooking mahi-mahi on the picnic table. We stayed only one night. Site Nr. 1 was quite pretty, and airy with good sunlight (which we wanted on this cool day!)

Next morning, thick fog enveloped Georgia. But sunny skies appeared and we decided to overnight south of Winchester in Harrisonburg, VA. We went to another Microtel, but had a very different experience than in Winchester; the place was quite old, but very clean. And not too far away, was the Little Italy Pizzeria...wow! Must admit, it tasted better than the one I had in Italy last year!

Next day, the final stretch home, was not much fun with fog, fog and rain, rain...only when we crossed the river to Ontario, the rain stopped. Now back at "Home Sweet Home" ... and preparing for our next trip: It is our 50th anniversary, it all started in Berlin, April 1, 1974.  No joke! 

 

Germany, here we come!

Cuba - Cayo Largo del Sur: Villa Linda Mar

 

Cuba - Cayo Largo del Sur: Villa Linda Mar

January 13 to 19, 2024

 

 

Our plan was to go camping, down south:  Carolinas, Georgia, Florida …  Weather forecast sounded promising, and we started to pack our van with our camping gear to get going.

So much for the forecast.  A strong jet stream changed the weather dramatically, with no break in sight. Camper was snow covered, frozen over – and we were getting restless.

 A cursory glance ,and the last minute travel options, proposed Cuba as an alternative.  One caught our eyes:  Cayo Largo del Sur!  And the images of the reed decked houses of Villa Linda Mar looked very enticing.  We booked, and had 72 hours ‘til departure from Ottawa.  There was another option to fly from Montreal, but that gave us just 48 hours preparation time; even for us, a bit tight.

But! Approaching our departure day, another low from Texas was trying to interfere with our travel plans.  We made it in time to our Ottawa airport hotel, and looked a bit doubtful at the blizzard raging on outside the hotel window.  It felt like a deja-vu to last year, when we were stuck at the same hotel over Christmas following our return from Cuba.  Will we make it there???

We felt relieved when a message from the airline informed us that our departure was delayed by 3 hours due to weather –  but not cancelled! And we needed that delay, because the road to the airport was barely drive-able, with very low visibility, in the morning (now 6am: originally, we were supposed to be at the airport at 3am!).  They had just started cleaning the roads.

 

But off we went, eventually.

4 hours later we landed under sunny skies and a temperature around 30C, on the landing strip of Cayo Largo, and a short while later were dropped of at our bungalow complex of Villa Linda Mar.

 It is a very small resort, but beautifully laid out behind the beach in the form of  individual, reed covered bungalows.  We had chosen “ocean view”, and did not regret this small extra expense (our bungalow was #7002, located to the east end of the compound).  The view from the balcony was fantastic , and we loved listening to the surf on the beach.

 

Cayo Largo del Sur, as well as many islands/coastline (north and south), were severely damaged by recent hurricanes.  In our case, Ian appeared to have done most of the damage back in 2022. 

 Along the coastline of this island, looking east, almost all hotels/resorts were either completely closed, or under some kind of renovations.  From Linda Mar, looking west, we found only 2 hotels occupied, and only to some degree: most buildings looked closed.

 While the beach consisted of wonderful fine sand, and the water invited us to swim/float in the waves (after we made it through the surge, which was somewhat of a challenge, given the exposed rocks along the newly created beach), we could see that up to 10 feet in height (!!!) of the coastline had been washed out to sea, leaving only a narrow strip of actual beach.  In the past, this beach must have been absolutely stunning.

 

Being on an island, goods and people have to be ferried in from the mainland.  The only other occupied Island, Isla de La Juventud, also depends on goods being shipped in.

Unfortunately, the supply ferry to the mainland had mechanical issues – translating into some food and beverage shortages during our stay.  But everyone in this resort took these developments in stride: it’s Cuba, after all.

But more challenging for the staff was the breaking down of the passenger ferry to the mainland.  Resort workers living on the mainland had not been back home since early/mid December.  A typical shift for them was 20 days on, 10 days off …  And nobody knew when the ferry would be fixed.

Hanging out at the beach bar, or in front of the pool bar, we formed a small community of  like-minded compatriots (meaning: a mix of French/Polish/German/English Canadians).  We loved our conversations and the mix!

 

Our conclusion of this trip:  a great stay, a welcome break from the winter weather up north (which sounded terrible during our absence), and great times with friends, some of whom we will likely meet again here in Canada.

 

And as expected, our flight brought us back to Ottawa to snow, and more snow and ice rain in the forecast: the usual mix.   

Our camper sits in our entrance, packed to the rim.  It looks like it will stay in the driveway for a while longer: the forecast for down south does not sound good at all!