Bluewater Key Resort: financial irresponsibility or mental health investment?

This is our 5th year of full-time RVing, which just saying out loud, sounds insane. We never planned to be on the road this long. Lots of RVers have the plan to hit the road, and if they enjoy it, keep going indefinitely. We are not those RVers. We saw the road as an exciting opportunity to get our finances in order before we buy land in NH and build our lives there. For 4 years, we saved money on the road by keeping our overhead low, choosing budget-friendly campgrounds, and replenishing our funds with our work income. Every year, we've ended up spending an average of $30-40 per night on campsites. That was our sweet spot. We could splurge once in a while, but then balance our expensive stays with free or cheap stays.

Up until now, our most expensive campsites ran not much over $100/night, and we only had a handful of triple-digit campsites.

First, we booked Spacious Skies Shenandoah to celebrate 4th of July 2022 at the national park and in Luray, VA. The price was higher for the holiday, and we ended up spending $133/night there. Was it worth it? Meh. You can read our reasoning in this post.

Then we had Sun Outdoors Association Island, the first campground that truly felt like a splurge. I booked it late one night without asking Anthony, hoping the lakefront beauty would quell any hesitation about the price. It did not, and we ended up leaving early, eating the cost of the very expensive $130/night price.

Our next splurge wasn't until 2024, when we booked a deluxe site at the Clearwater/Tarpon Springs KOA in Florida. We used the location as a jumping off point for a work trip Anthony ended up not needing to take, a vacation with friends who came down from MA, and a meetup in Tampa with Today is Someday. This was the first triple-digit-per-night campground we truly felt was worth the splurge. Our deluxe site cost us $165/night. We didn't dedicate a blog post to it, but we did talk about it in our KOA rankings. It scored pretty well and ended up in a respectable 6th place out of all 12 KOAs we ranked.

Then we had our 2 nights checking out the Tucson KOA Resort, where we spent $126/night solely to write a review for the blog, given that it's one of the most sought-after campgrounds in Tucson and one of the most talked-about KOAs in the country. The expensive KOAs were getting the job done. We also felt like this one was worth the splurge.

We knew that if we wanted to return to one of our favorite places in California, Paso Robles, that it would come at a price. We booked Sun Outdoors Paso Robles for $109/night and found the price well worth it for all the amenities and for being in such an expensive part of the country.

And finally, we spent $103/night to stay at Pine Lake Resort in Sturbridge, MA before returning to our home-base last year. We couldn't care less about the resort or its amenities, so for us the price wasn't worth it. We just needed an easy place to hang out for a couple nights before heading home.

That was it, unless we want to count our reservation at Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park that we ended up cancelling and only getting a 50% refund. That would have easily ended up being our most expensive campground, with our deluxe site costing a whopping $282/night.

Obviously, this year looks a little different for us financially. Anthony lost his job last summer, and I restructured my business in anticipation of having a dedicated studio space in our rental house. After the rental didn't work out, we moved back into the RV, and I had to pivot my business again, back to mobile-friendly. My average monthly income dipped in the process. We're slowly getting back on our feet, but instead of saving money on the road, we're treading lightly to replenish our funds.

This is why a splurge should be out of the question this year. We can't afford it. So how did we end up in Key West, one of the most expensive places to RV, at one of the most expensive RV resorts in the area?

We'll start by blaming Keep Your Daydream for this one. As soon as I saw their campsite at Bluewater Key RV Resort, I immediately looked up the resort and thought, "This is how you do the Keys."

It's strange too, because Anthony and I are not usually drawn to extravagance. We've been just as content in $20/night campsites as we have in $100/night campsites – and as you can see from our experience, just because a site is expensive doesn't mean it guarantees happy camping. But the Florida Keys are in a class of their own. This isn't where you go to immerse yourself in rustic nature. The nature offered is luxurious. With every bridge you cross on the Overseas Highway, you feel your real-life troubles fading away and vacation-mode activating. We ought to know. We had quite the real-life trouble right before crossing into the Keys.

I tucked the idea in the back of my mind to perhaps book a few nights at Bluewater Key for Anthony's birthday. But when that day rolled around, it's safe to say we were not in Key West.

A month later, we finally left MA, with no real plans except "Head south, go visit the Vicaris in FL, and figure out the rest as we go." "Figuring out the rest" led me to casually pull up the Bluewater Key website one day, just to take a gander and see how booked they were for the days we'd be in FL. Totally harmless, right?

That was until I saw that they had one bayfront silver site available for 3 nights starting the day we left Fort Myers, April 12-15. They categorize their sites in tiers: silver, gold, and platinum. All have tiki huts, but the higher tiers have full kitchens, versus the silver tier, which has a sitting area and sometimes an appliance like a fridge. The lots are privately owned, so no two sites are the same. Some owners allow the resort to rent out the sites when they're not occupied, while other owners keep theirs vacant.

Bayfront Silver Lot 74 looked great. The tiki hut was massive compared to other silver-tier sites. It had a full-size fridge, countertop facing the water, an outdoor living room, and a dining area, plus its own dock and 2 additional Adirondack chairs for lounging by the shore. Price? $327/night. But look what you get! And that's just at the campsite. The resort also has amenities like a clubhouse with a pool, game room, and recreation area; a boat dock and kayak launch; footpaths leading to picnic areas by the canal; central communal parks for pets and people (the people park has hammocks, a picnic pavilion with a grill, cornhole, and horseshoes). They also offer events on select days throughout the week. The location is great, too. While technically in the town of Key West, you're away from the crowds. Bluewater Key basically just has this resort and some houses. It takes about 20 minutes to get to the heart of Key West from the resort.

It was a tough decision, though. In one sense, it felt serendipitous, that the type of site we'd want – bayfront silver – had the available dates we wanted, and no other availabilities anywhere else on the calendar. But on the other hand, we knew that we took a risk spending this much. What if this resort turned out to be a disappointment, like Ass. Island? What if for some reason we couldn't make it down there, and we ended up forfeiting the money? That would hit us really hard.

But, in the end, we booked it. This hasn't been an easy year for us so far, and we wanted to gift ourselves at least the chance to find peace and tranquility. Even if the resort ended up not being to our liking, we already knew one thing: we love the Keys, and we'd be happy to return.

That's right. We went to Key West 9 years ago on our East Coast Road Trip. In fact, we were there on April 13-15, so we ended up returning exactly 9 years later. Go figure! Maybe it really was kismet to go there again. What was great about this was, we didn't feel pressured to go out and do anything. Our first time in Key West, we went to a few restaurants, had a dolphin watch/snorkel tour, and watched the sunset at Mallory Square. We visited the Southernmost Point and tried a bunch of key lime pies to see which we liked best. This year, we wanted to cash in on our resort time.

We arrived later than expected, after the Bluewater Key staff kindly offered us a late check-in after hearing about our tire troubles. Typically, they are very strict about check-in and check-out. All campers must be escorted to their lot, only during the office's open hours. On Sundays, this is only a 3-hour window, from 1-4pm. On other days, check-in is from 1-5pm. They had someone on-call to let us in through the gate and escort us when we arrived. We didn't do much that evening except marvel at our site. It looked just like the pictures! We were so relieved to have arrived in one piece after that crazy drive day, but to arrive to this site? Almost made it worth the price already.

The lots are laid out on a road with 2 cul-de-sacs at each end, with a communal area in the middle that houses the pet park and people park. At one of the cul-de-sacs is the pool and clubhouse, and behind the clubhouse is the canal. Lots on that side have backyards that access the canal via the back footpaths. The other side is the bayfront side, which offers bay views behind the lots. Our bayfront site was the perfect location. The view out the back was spectacular, of course, but we were also right across the road from the communal areas. This gave Tanner easy access to the pet park, and us easy access to some of the amenities. The clubhouse was on the opposite end of the resort, but it was only about a quarter-mile walk. We could have also driven over there, as the clubhouse does have parking, but we preferred getting some steps in.

We've said it many times before, but we're not the "beach vacation" types. We get bored quickly if we just lounge in the sand for hours and hours. That's why we like Key West. There is so much to do beyond the beach. Even at the resort, we had plenty of things to keep us entertained, and we ended up finding the perfect balance between activities and rest.

Each morning, we got up early to watch the sunrise over the bay. Well, we tried to on all 3 mornings, but our final morning was too cloudy. The other days, though, had just enough clouds to make the sunrises extra dramatic.

Our first full day at the resort was Monday, the day the staff throw a "sunrise social." It's actually at 9:30am, after sunrise, but the staff offers breakfast pastries, juice, and mimosas at the clubhouse. We unfortunately missed "Sundae Sunday" the day before, and mid-week there were no events, so we made sure to attend the sunrise social. Not much by way of socializing, but we enjoyed our complementary breakfast and followed it up with a game of ping pong.

This was when we really felt like we had entered vacation-mode. A complementary breakfast after watching the sunrise from our private tiki hut? Bougie camping at its finest! The day was heating up and we needed some refreshment after our refreshments. We're not always pool people, but sometimes the mood just strikes. If there was anything else I was going to do that day, it had to involve a dip.

Unfortunately, vacation-mode couldn't be 100% activated. After all, it was a Monday. But I took my laptop to the pool and did some work poolside after my swim. Anthony and I took meetings from the tiki hut. On Monday evening, I decided to have some fun at my board officers meeting and show up in the tiki hut, pineapple drink-in-hand. Gave everyone a good laugh.

As soon as we reserved our site at Bluewater Key, we made plans to cook a nice meal to eat in the tiki hut. We might not have a full kitchen like the gold and platinum sites, but we had no problem cooking inside the rig and eating it in our outdoor dining room. During our travels south, we stopped at a Harvest Host just outside Virginia Beach, Hubbard Peanut Company. We bought tons of varieties of their peanuts, and after trying their honey peanuts, knew they'd make an amazing crust for chicken. We saved the peanuts so we could have peanut crusted chicken as our Key West meal. Served it with some garlic and paprika asparagus. Chef's kiss!

After that, I challenged Anthony to the lawn games over at the people park. I had already schooled him at ping pong and wanted to keep my winning streak going. First up: cornhole. And if you're wondering who won, this gif should be a good indication.

But my victories ended with horseshoes. Both of us were pretty terrible, but Anthony won.

It was a long way to travel and a huge investment, but our stay at Bluewater Key was everything we hoped it would be. We think about all the money we spent 9 years ago in Key West, with our hotel accommodations, activities, and fine dining. Even though Bluewater Key was a huge splurge in terms of campgrounds, it actually turned out to be our more budget-friendly Key West trip! And we were right. Bluewater Key was exactly how we wanted to RV the Keys.

We noticed a lot of comparison points between RVing to the Keys and driving down with a normal vehicle. First off, there's no easy place to stop with an RV on the Overseas Highway, so we needed to brace ourselves for an almost 3-hour drive to the resort. The scenery is so beautiful that it does go by quickly, but it's important for RVers to prepare themselves for a long journey over all the bridges.

Of course, the small spaces carry over to trucks, too. If you drive a large truck, expect to need to cram yourself into parking spots in Key West. It can be done, but it takes a lot of patience and diligence.

RVing to the Keys does mean something else: you might need to do rig repairs in the Keys, when you'd rather be relaxing. We had our flat tire on our way down, and many diagnostics still to do. That situation didn't stop just because we were in an ocean oasis. In our next blog post, we'll pick up where we left off: down in the Keys, spare tire on, and with a flat tire in our truck bed that left us with a lot of questions.