Horseshoe Beach Park

We arrived on a Friday and drove right up to the best gulf-view site and had the entire place to ourselves.

Horseshoe Beach is a vacation community with lots of sport fishing activity and Saturday brought a lot more people with its clear skies. And we ended up with a group camped next to us Saturday night but they were very quiet. The air boats on the other hand are VERY loud. And someone was out razzing around in one not far from shore long after the sun went down Saturday night when it was quite dark.

There is water and electric at each site, a central RV dump, restrooms with flush toilets and FREE showers (the hot water is not very hot and we were told by the host that if one shower is in use, it's best to wait to use the other as the hot water is from an on-demand heater, and doesn't supply 2 showers adequately - we found this to be true). There is also a boat launch on site.

The host comes around once a day to collect fee payments. She said she usually tries to be there between 3:00 and 6:00 pm. They do accept personal checks.

All in all a great place for our weekend.

Gorgeous little place right on the water. Electric and water hookups with a covered picnic table, a grill and a fire ring.

It seemed like the rest of the world was cold, so I wanted warmer, sunny weather. This was definitely the place. Cool in the evening with the onshore winds coming in off the Gulf, but not freezing. I arrived on a Tuesday and was alone in the campgrounds until Thursday. Then the weekend campers started coming in. Most were 5th wheels and pull behind campers. I stayed in site 6 and in my opinion, it is the best. It faces the Gulf of Mexico and I'm about 15' from the water. There aren't any trees so I have plenty of solar.
This is a first come first serve campground. There are 8 RV sites and a handful of tent sites. Each RV site has potable water (spigot) and electric. I'm self contained, so I don't hook up. Nice to know it's there if I need it. There are bathrooms with a shower. Debbie (park attendant) was super friendly. She comes around daily when she can to collect the money. You can pay by the day or all up front. I stayed 6 days,
This beach is a public day use boat launch. It gets busy with the boats, but everybody was pretty nice. Another commenter made the comment about the fan boats. Yep, they are loud, but they are so fast the noise fades quickly. Like one camper there said, the boats were here long before you were! LOL
I have a T-Mobile hotspot and had basically no service. I was told Verizon was the way to go. When my hotspot would roam, I would occasionally get an ATT signal. So, I just made due.
The town is quite small and as I walked around, everybody waved and said hi. There is a small "store" at the end of the street where you can buy ice and soft drinks. I came pretty well stocked, so I didn't need to use it. The closest town is Cross City, 20 miles. Walmart is 40 miles away in Chiefland.
The campers next to me were awesome. Plenty of stories from their catamaran boat days sailing around the world. Ernie taught me how to use a cast net. That was really cool.

Got there about 11 am there were signs that said no dogs, but they were posted on the day pavilion so I assumed that it was meant for the day pavilion. About 10 pm had a knock on the door and was asked to leave, because dogs are not allowed. I told her I assumed it was just for the day pavilion, she said that's what everyone thinks but it's for the whole park. Asked if we could just stay till morning and she said no because someone drove through and couldn't stay cause they had a dog and it wouldn't be fair.

This place is perfect for an overnight stop (or you can stay up to 7 days). It’s a bit of a detour off the highway but we’re glad we came. Pulled up around 5pm and there were 3 sites left. You just park in an open space and they come collect the fee around 8:30. The sunset was spectacular

Tried to get a quick stay in today, but unfortunately the staff let me know that they have been closed since the hurricane in spring of 2023. They told me they hope to re-open next year. I wish him the best, and I was appreciative that the staff was friendly enough to reply to me promptly.

I think technically this campground is closed due to all the hurricane damage but no sign told us we couldn’t stay. We were here for two nights with no knocks. the bathhouse is gone and the pavilions are not safe to use. No water or power, but still a lovely view.