First 10000 islands trip

[Paul martin]

Me and some buddies are headed down to do some camping and fishing for three nights. We are putting in and chokoloskee and from what we can see south is the way to go. We are all running in 12 ft jon boats with 15hp. Trying to figure out the best area to set up base camp for the three nights. Thinking of heading down to plover key or maybe turkey key or should we not even head that far south any info would be a great help thanks.

[SteveS]

You can not camp on Plover Key (unless something changed recently). You can only camp at designated camping areas and you need a permit to do so which you can obtain in Everglades City.

I do not think you need to travel that far south. There will be plenty of fish in areas further north. New Turkey has a relatively deep channel on one side so you might be able to get the boats closer to the island. You can only camp two nights though. Pavilion is probably your best bet if you want to camp three nights in the same location. You shouldn't have a hard time getting a permit for this spot.

[Jay]

You may have seen this document - but if you haven't, look it over and it will help your planning.  This is the 2012 document, i don't think they did one in 2013.

Wilderness Trip Planner

When you check-in at the visitors center to get your permit, they will have a board posted with any closures - plan to be flexible.

One other thing I will mention is that when you are camping on an island, unless an area on that island is specifically posted as closed, you can camp anywhere you want on that island (doesn't have to be near the sign, or near the port-o-let!).  Same applies for a beach, like Highland, or any of the Cape Sable or Clubhouse beaches - you may have 2-3 miles to play with.

Have a great trip.

[toofaraway]

Let the weather be your guide.  Personally with those tiny boats I'd head down the inside and go all the way to Willy Willy or thereabouts.  You'll have a great time exploring and the creeks are endless.  Jealous!  Spend time on Google Earth or Google Maps and look for the fishy spots there.  Out on the coast you can be really exposed.  Plus the bugs are worse on the coast than inland.

[Dallas]

If you decide not to pull permits and camp in ENP, Panther Key can be easily accessed by power boats on the West side of the island. There is a deep channel there that isn't effected by tides too much and the camping there is pretty good when it's not too busy.