Getting to Torry Island Campground in Belle Glade was a quick one-hour drive from our previous campground. Unfortunately, this turned out to be to our disadvantage as the power was out at our new campground which rendered the electric gate at the entrance inoperable. After hanging out in the parking lot for a couple hours, the power was restored and we were able to sign in then make our way over to our campsite – which turned out to be another misadventure due to a treacherous back-in that was only possible because most of our neighbors happened to away with their vehicles (but I still nailed it on the first try 😎).
As the name suggests, the Torry Island Campground is located on Torry Island – a manmade island on the southern tip of Lake Okeechobee. I can’t say that this was the nicest campground, but it wasn’t the worst one we’ve stayed at either. Although the spots near our campsite were very cramped, there were other parts of the park which had plenty of room between sites and looked quite nice. Another interesting aspect of this campground was the water access as nearly every site backed up to the water and a good half of the campers had a boat in the water right behind their rig – not a bad set up for February!
Another item in the “pro” column for this campground was its access to a decent bike path which ran for miles along the southern edge of the lake. Although there weren’t the best views along the path, we enjoyed getting out there, moving our legs, getting some sun, and feeling the wind in our hair!
Although we didn’t get as far south as we would have liked on this trip around Florida, this spot was close enough to my parents’ condo in Miami that they decided to make a trip down to hang out with us – once at our campground for dinner and again the next day, meeting halfway in Fort Lauderdale. Our first activity in Fort Lauderdale was an airboat ride through a bit of the Everglades on the northwest part of the metro. This ended up being a fun little tour, complete with plenty of wildlife to go along with a beautiful day!
The rest of our time in the area was spent on a “water taxi” ride which took us throughout the canals of Fort Lauderdale. My dad had always mentioned that he wanted to do this, and now I can see why – the amazing homes along the canal and all the yachts make for some good entertainment as you cruise around the Intracoastal Waterway.
We are so blessed to have family come to visit us and do fun stuff like this! Sadly, it was time to say goodbye, not only to my parents but also to beautiful south Florida. After spending the day among the rich and famous in Fort Lauderdale, shabby ole Belle Glade looked even worse by comparison when we made our way back home to the camper. Honestly, I don’t have many good things to say about the town of Belle Glade itself – for one, there isn’t much going on in this little agricultural town dominated by sugar plantations, but we also got pretty bad vibes from the locals. If we ever have the opportunity to do a big “snowbird” trip throughout Florida again, we are going to skip the interior entirely and just stick to the coasts!