Cayo Costa is a fantastic place to get away from the cold Canadian or American winters. It has the feel of a tropical paradise without needing to leave the continent. Cayo Costa is located in Florida, so you would think that the beaches there would be quite crowded. This couldn’t be further from the truth since Cayo Costa happens to be an undeveloped island. The only life there, is the wildlife, a few local residences, and a state campground. You can walk for miles on white sandy beaches and barely see a soul.
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Getting To Cayo Costa Island
Our experience at Cayo Costa was a smooth-running operation without feeling like a busy resort. You book the ferry, the ferry brings you to the island, you disembark, a tram picks you up and brings you and your equipment to the campground. The campground is a stone’s throw away from the beach and we experienced a nice ocean breeze during our stay there in February.
The Campground Layout
At the other end of the campground there is a bathroom, and a cold water shower. Across from the main building are a few cabins that you can rent ahead of time. In the campground there are around 30 campsites. During the day you can spend your time walking the beach, the trails that cut through the park or do some shelling or fishing. It is a fantastic place to relax and forget about the cold.
Cayo Costa Wildlife
Since this is “The Real Florida” which is the park’s motto, there is a resident wildlife population. This includes eagles, lizards, gopher tortoises, stingrays and dolphins. We took a day and kayaked to see the manatees in their element. They frequent an area that has a natural spring. You can sit there in your kayak and see these animals up close. It was quite an experience for us since we certainly don’t see manatees where I live in Canada.
Camping would not be camping without the bugs. Even in February we experienced the typical mosquitoes, which seems you cannot get away from wherever you travel to in the world where the weather is nice. We also experienced what we call sand flies or noseeums. They were worse than the mosquitoes because we didn’t really feel them bite much until we got home and discovered that yes they were there. Deet bug spray certainly helped and I would recommend applying it during your trip, particularly if your hiking, or in an area where there is less of a breeze. Bringing some long sleeve shirts and pants would be wise as well.
Does Cayo Costa have rats? Yes, Cayo Costa island has rats. The palm rat or ship rat are climbers and inhabit the palm trees around the campground. They become active once the last light is out and everyone goes to bed.
It is important to keep in mind the fact that these are not filthy city rats that crawl through sewers and eat people’s garbage. These rats eat mainly fruit eaters and they live in a natural environment. During the day we never saw them, and at night they would stay well away from any light. We also found that they would not come on the tent in any way but would keep a reasonable distance away.
One of the keys of coexistence with the rats is how you store your food. It is really important not to leave any food around the campsite. This will most certainly increase their activity. As well it is important to not bring any food into your tent as well as any scented products such as toothpaste. Rats will eat just about anything. For example, we left some scrub pads out overnight and when we woke up we found that they had been gnawed at. Since we only brought backpacks we had to find a way to hang them. We ended up hanging them up where people put their cots. Our packs were high enough off the ground that we had no problems. Hanging packs from trees is not allowed and unnecessary due to the fact there are no large predators.
How We Liked Our Stay At Cayo Costa
Our experience at Cayo Costa was fantastic and we will try to get back for another visit. The enjoyment of being in a “tropical” paradise certainly outweighs any of the inconveniences. The camping aspect adds to its charm. Even the bugs and the rats could not put a damper on our experience and I think most people that visit the Island feel the same.