11/21 St. Lucie South Lock & Dam Campground, Stuart, FL

This is one of my favorite places in Florida.  If you own a large boat you can sleep on and want to take a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico, you can take the St. Lucie River to Lake Okeechobee and then take the Caloosahatchee Canal west to Fort Myers.  There is lock and dam east of the lake and two west of the lake.  This is 200 miles shorter than going all the way around southern Florida.

Nearly always, when the U.S. Corps of Engineers builds a dam and/or a lock it also builds recreational facilities--usually this includes a campground.  I have stayed at all three campgrounds on this particular shortcut.  They are well taken care of and cheap for seniors like me who have a federal pass.  

This campground is unusual for a COE campground in that it has only 9 campsites for RVs, 3 tent sites, and 8 boat sites.  All but the tent sites have both electric and water hookups.  The RV sites are paved with gravel patio areas and covered picnic tables.  Because of the trees, it was hard to get a photo of the entire campground, but here are a few.  The first photo shows the view from my site, looking back towards the entrance.  The river, dam, and locks are on the left. 

This shows four of the campsites, except that two were unoccupied when I took this.

Another photo showing four of the sites, including mine, second from the right behind the trees. 

 

This is my site--#5.

The prime sites are these three because they are directly on the river and have an excellent view of boats coming into and out of the locks. 

 

And these are the 8 boat sites.  Each has electric and water hookups.  

There is a very small day-use area near the boat sites and closer to the dam and lock.   The fire pit is for the use of the boaters. 

 

 

There are a lot of gopher tortoises in the campground and surrounding woods, so you never know who is going to drop by.  Gopher tortoises graze on grass and other plants, and lay their eggs in the burrows they dig.  This adult is probably at least 40-60 years old, and it can move amazingly fast!    

Lots of tortoise food around here, but they prefer to graze when the day is warm and sunny.   Gopher tortoises are very different from turtles, as they dig burrows and never go into water.  When they abandon their burrows, they get used by foxes, snakes, and other small animals looking for a home.    

Gopher tortoises are federally protected because their burrows are so valuable to other animals.  Note all the sand this one has tossed around in digging a burrow.

On a sunny day, you can often see a tortoise sunning itself on the edge of its burrow.  They don't seem to be bothered by humans watching, but will hide if you get too close.  Here are some rules and regulations about gopher tortoises:  https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/wildlife/gopher-tortoise/rules-and-regulations/   Note that if one is on land you own, you need to get a permit before relocating them.  Also, you may not "take, attempt to take, pursue,hunt, harass, capture, possess, sell or transport any gopher tortoise or pars thereof or their eggs, or molest, damage, or destroy gopher tortoise burrows" without permission from the proper authorities.

Behind the campground is a nice little pond with assorted birds.

These are apparently black-bellied whistling ducks.