Manatee Cove Campground

Well kept facility in a great location right on the water. Well worth the stack of paperwork required in advance of the visit.

Very nice campground. Always a camp host. Loved the sites along the water but wind can be an issue in March April

Previous reviews ARE accurate- no issues for us! Thanks for the headsup on registration paperwork. Camp Host are now in sites: 81, 90 and 91 (I’ll try to post a Google pic) registration office will have the pin drop. Commercial Gate IS best access for us (36’ fifth wheel) other gate access have twisty tight turns. Laundry $1.00/wash & dry.

Wonderful campground, sites are well maintained and serviceable. Entry through delivery gate was easy and stress free. Common areas are clean and well maintained. Staff was friendly and hospitable. Location is ideal for beach goers and offers close access to beach towns with plenty of shopping and eateries. As of now, policy states only one vehicle per site, wish we were able to park our second vehicle on site (within perimeters of staying off the grass and not blocking roadway).

We stayed here for 30 days (late Nov to late Dec) in 2024. We were scheduled to go back for another 30 days in Feb 2025, but were called & told the base had changed its security protocols & I no longer qualified to enter the base. My husband was still allowed, but he couldn’t sponsor anyone else. So if you are anything other than retired military you need to check with base security before making reservations. The fam camp itself is “ok”. LOTS of (ridiculous) rules & not always well maintained. But a great location.

After reading a review about the “militant” atmosphere at this campground, we weren’t sure what to expect but we had a great time for our first visit. The host on duty was very nice at check-in. We had a nice concrete pad not directly on the water but with a great view. We didn’t use the bathhouse or laundry, but they appeared to be nice and clean. Our only negative, and the reason for 4 stars not 5, would be most sites are a little close. In some areas your picnic table could be right beside your neighbor’s sewer connection. We didn’t have that situation but observed quite a few that did. But definitely a place we plan to visit again. Watching rocket launches was awesome!

This was our first overnight stay at Manatee Cove, but it won’t be our last. We really loved it. We arrived mid Saturday afternoon and met Jim, our host and he and I had a great conversation while filling out all of the paperwork. We drive a Jayco 30X class C coach and are towing a RAM 1500 4x4. Jim assigned us a pull thru site and it was perfect. Everything was clean and neat. We had no issues at all. Although the park was about 90% occupied, it was surprisingly quiet at night. We had planned to only spent one night. Around 10 am on our departure day, a host came by to check on us and make sure that his notes were right. We pulled out just before 11. Had no issues with the truck gate on either Saturday or Sunday. There is a COSTCO just across 95 from the base where we refueled and we’re on our way. We were hoping to see a rocket launch but missed it. There was one scheduled but they kept postponing the launch. We finally went to bed. The launch went off after 11 pm.

I agree with the previous reviews regarding the militant, rude, creepy and tense atmosphere at this location. Stayed for 3 nights and was constantly harassed by clipboard concentration camp militants every single day with the most benign and ridiculous surreal made up rules that are either not in the multiple pages of rules and or enforced on you but not applicable to them . The hypocrisy and contradiction is evident and blatant. The climax was on day 3, when a bathhouse toilet overlord started yelling and screaming at me like a madman on drugs, that dared to use his precious toilet. I felt threatened and uneasy and almost called the base police. This person presented himself as staff but I wasn’t sure. I reported him to the staff office and they seemed to know who he was and didn’t seem to be concerned, so I completed an ICE report and will be filing a formal complaint to MWR, ODR and the base commander. This 3 day stay was a nightmare. You can’t mind your own business, relax or be left alone. By far the worst military campground in the USA. We’ve stayed at dozens of military sites throughout the country. I would highly encourage you to not stay here, reconsider your options. We will never be back.

Nice and friendly Camp Host, the grounds are not maintained very well (very tall grass) and many messy sites. Getting in base on weekends is a real pain since the comercial gate is closed and I had to call the MP office and wait 15 minutes for them to come let me in. The location was great and the beaches are awesome.

The base deserves 4 or 5 stars. However the campground is a 1 star location. The reservation process is cumbersome and disappointing. Back and forth emails with no real tracking system. Booked months a head of time called a month amount to confirm all was well and pay for our visit. 3 days later the campground called my wife to obtain payment after we had already paid. Arrived to a site that had grass that varied in height from 6-11 inches. I borrowed a mower from a host and mowed the site. Unfortunately, we needed to also clean up trash. Very few palm trees didn’t have palms that were hanging ready to fall on vehicles or campers. Over all the campground is a poor reflection of the base. The location is fantastic and with some basic effort and care the place could be fantastic. It currently is very obviously a run down retirement community not a military family campground.