St. Lucie South Campground

This is a Corp of Engineers park with only approximately 9 sites. This park is part of the 3 park system operated by the COE which runs along the Lake Okeechobee Waterway from outside Ft Myers on the west coast to St Lucie South on the east coast of Florida. The 3 campground parks are W.P Franklin, Ortona South, and St. Lucie. This is very popular in the winter since Senior Pass members receive a 50% discount. I have been lucky in two consecutive winters to snag Site #2 from cancellations. Personally, I love sites #1 -3 because they all site on the waterway where you can sit out your front door and watch boats of all kinds, including Million dollar yachts make their way thru the Locks. This park also is one of the best places to see the COE Locks up close. The other sites sit back from the waterway but are still quiet and spacious due to the small size of the campground. Plenty of good shopping/restaurants are close by.

Tent only sites and Mooring sites (boats) are available at this campground.

There is a short hiking path from the campground that is great for the dogs and there are also hiking paths across the waterway accessed via the Lock bridge.

We stayed here for one night in November. All 9 RV sites are reservable and I did make reservations a couple days before we arrived to ensure a spot since most sites were already reserved.

The campground is right on the St. Lucie Canal. The employees are very friendly and the campground is extremely clean. There is electric and water at every site and a dump station available. There really isn't much shade at any of the sites. It's a small campground with access to the lock area with benches to watch the yachts go by and a picnic area across the dam.

If you are planning to head here, I would suggest reserving sites 1, 2, or 3 which pull through sites right on the water! There are also tent sites along the canal as well.

This campground had great cell service on Verizon and it is easy to get to both Stuart and Port St. Lucie from here to explore more of the area. We would stay here again because of the convenience to town and water location and it being a very quiet spot along the busy east coast of Florida.

This campground was the perfect base camp to explore local beaches. The three sites along the water may not accommodate larger rigs. Sites 7, 8, and 9 are my big rig favorites. The Army Corps of Engineers maintains a great park with playground, picnic tables, seating along both sides of the Okeechobee Waterway. A walkway across the dam provides pedestrian access to the other side of the waterway. Verizon cell service speed clocked in at 11.7 Mbps download speed and 2.96 upload speed. AT&T clocked in at 5.22 Mbps download speed and 2.48 upload speed. Phipps County Park and Campground is within walking distance and adjoins the St. Lucie South Campground. Waterway scenery may be enjoyed at both parks.

Beautiful small campground with 9 well-maintained sites. Lots of boats to watch and some nice sunsets. We've now camped at both ends of the waterway!

This was our second trip to St. Lucie South. This is definitely a small park without a ton of frills. The site pads are awesome and the water the views are very nice. We arrived after dark and was able to coordinate with the campground on how to access the gate. I will definitely be back to this campground in the future and would recommend it to anyone that is looking for a nice quiet place to chill for a few days.

This might be the most scenic and clean campground we’ve stayed right on the water, site 2! Sort of next to big sailboats and cruisers on the water.

My husband fished right off our site and great fishing!

Ortona South was full and reservation agent redirected us to St. Lucie and we hit the jackpot!

Small (9 RV sites), quiet, well maintained. Electric and water at each RV site. Covered table, grill and fire ring at each site, both RV and tent. Hot water showers. Dump station. Three of the sites (1, 2 and 3) are right on the edge of the canal. Less than 30 minutes to ocean beaches. It's only a couple of miles from I95.

Well maintained small campground (9 RV sites; some on the water) with water and electric. Dump station on site. Clean restrooms with warm shower. Well maintained grounds. It’s right next to the St. Lucie locks; interesting to watch the boats go through. Loved it!

Great concrete pads with space in between. 50 amp + water & dump station. There are also boat slips available with water and electric. The lock viewing area and little island across from the lock were all gated off due to Covid apparently which was a disappointment. The visitor center was also closed. Even the loaner life jackets were removed because the risk of Covid was apparently greater than the risk of drowning.

The location is still wonderful though and the campground is really quite beautiful. We had hoped to go to Manatee Lagoon (where a power plant's warm outflow attracts many manatees) while we were here, but it was closed due to Covid. That led to a very fun adventure that we hadn't known about that isn't too far away from the CG - Peanut Island. There is a little ferry that takes you to a man-made island with snorkeling reefs and lagoon, a walking trail, tent campsites, etc. It is VERY dog friendly, including the ferry. We even saw 2 manatees while we were there.

Without repeating too much of what others have said, this place is super. Clean, enjoyable, scenic.