Brevard hosts collection of camping parks
By Stephen E. Raymond/For The Tampa Tribune

Area campgrounds

SEBASTIAN - Brevard County, spacecraft country stretching from Titusville to below Sebastian, has by far the finest collection of camping parks we've found in Florida.

Most have some shade, even when the beach and water and fishing potential are the magnets drawing day visitors and overnight campers.

The Atlantic is gentle here; the bays, rivers and bayous placid; the fish active, particularly when a full moon works sedately toward the west.

Our new home for a while is Long Point Park. It's an island on the eastern shore of the Indian River, 1 1/2 miles north of Sebastian Inlet on State Road A1A, but with a Melbourne Beach address.

This primitive park is surrounded by water and reached by a short causeway through dwarfed red mangroves and the skeletons of taller ones killed off by the 1989 freeze. In essence, the park is without shade except for half a dozen eucalyptus, a few Australian pines and Brazilian pepper and mangroves at the shore's edge.

We are crouched in the shade of a huge eucalyptus tree. It has failed to protect us so many times we've added a sizable tarp and count on it to help cool things off.

A tiny bayou is 10 yards away and the shore is fronted by red mangroves. It's a favorite haunt of raccoons, judging by the parade of prints we see each morning.

Those with air conditioning don't worry whether they're under a tree or not but those who think manufactured cold and camping don't mix jeer at the softies.

But honestly, the Florida heat can be as intense as concrete, as asphalt and homes replace transpiring trees, and I'm beginning to think a little fake coolness in the middle of the day would be welcome.

Mullet jump all day and wake me at night with their joyful efforts at flight. They seem to jump with more enthusiasm when the moon glazes the bayou with reflected light, but they've shown no interest in the mash-dried oats offering our friend ``Mullet Man'' found so successful at Franklin Lock.

Bugs? This close to the water there should be an ample supply of each variety but there are few mosquitoes, no deer or horse flies, or an abundance of sandflies or no-see- ums. A burning mosquito coil generally controls them.

Each weekend this park is at or near capacity and since all the sites are waterfront many have fishing and ski boats tied at their back door.

Our catch? One catfish, one blue crab, both of which we released.

Long Point is a superb family park. In the middle is a shallow artesian pool with sandy bottom for youngsters. Another lake is reserved for birds and has attracted cormorants, egrets, herons, an occasional pelican, and a sizable flock of wood storks, white with black feathers under their wings. Their wingspan approaches 6 feet and their neck is naked like that of a buzzard.

Our cat, Conch, is getting it together. She seems to know when we are in county or private parks and why not? All the curtains are open then and she goes out for a walk each afternoon.

If the ``no pets'' sign is out, she remains hidden behind drawn drapes like the village recluse. And she acts it.

Raccoons entertain her and the fear she showed at Tomoka is evaporating.

Just before dusk the parade of prowling raccoons begins. They walk in single file, sometimes as many as six or eight, from the juvenile to the elders. They move sedately at water's edge, in the water sometimes, and through the forest of mangrove prop roots. Often they stop and the leader stands on its back legs like a begging squirrel trying to get a better look.

These early evening walks are to reconnoiter; the raccoons reserve their serious plundering until lights are out, the camp fire stoked, the human babble muted.

We read and it isn't long after the lights are out and the blinds opened that we hear them. Conch runs from one screen to another and sometimes hides.

The show lasts much of the night.

Brevard has four county parks and a sizable state park. Sebastian Inlet State Recreation Area is a fisherman's paradise and once was a camper's delight with waterfront sites under huge Australian pines.

Not any more. Adequate is about all you can say for it now.

Needed shade that made Sebastian Inlet a spot every serious fisherman in Florida knew is missing. Most of the pines were victims of the 1989 freeze. With their death went any hope of shade except of the man-made variety.

There is no indication substitute shade trees have been planted like the quick-growing rosewood trees so evident at Okee-Tantie at Lake Okeechobee.

As a consequence, only a handful of the 50 camp sites is occupied regularly and the park, which used to require reservations much of the year, seldom nears capacity.

AREA CAMPGROUNDS

Because Sebastian Inlet has so many pluses going for it with fishermen, including its long pier into the Atlantic and catwalks under the inlet bridge, the shadeless campground is a real tragedy.

Jetty Park at Cape Canaveral is exceptional.

Campsites here are like the best seats at a travelogue showing. Freight ship and cruise liner traffic is constant into and out of the port and it is easy to get to fishing areas along the seawall. Ocean swimming is nearby.

Many sites are grassy and there's more shade than you'd expect to find at the beach campground.

Manatee Hammock Park at Titusville was a private park acquired by Brevard to serve the northern part of the county. It is shaded and offers a great observation post for shuttle launches.

Melbourne's Wickham Park, west toward the inland prairie, cattle and grove country and snuggled under tall pines, is miles from the ocean.

Its focus, primarily, is equestrian and features horse stalls, a 32- station workout trail, an amphitheater seating 1,500 and many other recreation features, including two sand bottom lake pools.

The daily rate for all the parks listed below is $17.

FOR INFORMATION