Canaveral National Seashore Permits

Let me start out by saying that my daughter and I are not new to backcountry camping, so we didn’t have high expectations. All we were hoping for was a clean and safe place to pitch a tent for a few nights. Well, we ended up cutting our trip short and only staying one night. We booked site #4 (Headwinds) for 2 nights, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Let’s start with the good. It was a nice tran... Let me start out by saying that my daughter and I are not new to backcountry camping, so we didn’t have high expectations. All we were hoping for was a clean and safe place to pitch a tent for a few nights. Well, we ended up cutting our trip short and only staying one night. We booked site #4 (Headwinds) for 2 nights, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Let’s start with the good. It was a nice tranquil paddle to and from the site. In fact on the way back to the visitor center the next day we counted over 20 dolphins! This site would probably also be great for birders, especially during migration times as we saw several species during our time paddling around. We also had a great view of the sunset right off where you pull the boats in. Now the bad. We first pulled in to the site about an hour before sunset and the first thing that we noticed was a large chair and a Coleman stove left behind. We then noticed garbage all over the ground. At first we wondered if someone else was there, but nope just someone’s garbage that they didn’t want to haul back off the island. We then realized just how small the site is, if we had had anything larger than backpacking tents it would have been a struggle to find a spot to set up. Then with it being New Years Eve we were kept awake by boaters blasting music until 3am. That’s of no fault to the park, but lesson learned. The next morning as we were able to check the site a little better we found the area that everyone had been using for their bathroom. Cat-holes were not properly dug and human waste and toilet paper was left exposed. By around 10am the entire site smelled like a latrine due to the improper disposal and that’s when we decided to pack up and leave. No I did not take any of the trash with me because I didn’t have gloves nor room on the canoe for it, otherwise I would have.