Fort De Soto — Attraction in Gulfport

The park has a few different beaches. Camp site sections that allow dogs and some that don't. Some beaches allow dogs and some do not. They have an 1000ft pier that dolphins come to and steal fish from the fishermen and can be quite humorous. Manatees sometimes visit and go into the bay. Kayaks and paddle boats allowed in the bay by the campsites. They have a historic fort and the best gift shop is by this fort. They also serve food and ice cream. There is a park headquarters that have kennel crates for pets but I don't know the details. The pier beach is nice and has rocks from an old Fort the kids climb on. The North end is nice also with a sand bar you can wade out to. You can take the ferry at the smaller pier. This pier does not require a fishing license to fish off of it. Dogs are allowed at this beach and they have dog parks. Very pet friendly in parts of the park. The ferry will take you to Egmont Island where the lighthouse and Dade fort is (now part underwater) and you can snorkel. The ferry also takes you to Shell island but these are two separate excursions. *Update- You can not go in the lighthouse at Egmont. Both promise wildlife views. The campsites don't have fire pits. You can bring your own or rent a fire ring for $3 a night. I went and bought one at Walmart. There is a toll in two places to get in the park. One is $1 and one is .75 cents. We pay this every time we leave and have to come by. There is a Publix and Walmart about 9-10 miles away. Also the best Goodwill I've ever been to is near there. And I've been to alot of them lol. This was the closest camping I could find to clearwater while supporting local parks. Honeymoon Island has day use and picnicking but not camping as far as I could tell. Camping with dogs is a little more for the other campground around the corner. To reserve campsites it was Fort De Soto campground on Reserve America. This is the furthest south I've been and usually camp at St Andrew's State Park at PCB. This place is a lot like that but bigger. Our campsite is big and by the water. It has some cover between campsites. Water and electric hookups and bathrooms have showers and they also have a washer and dryer at...

This is mainly about the campground itself. For all of the great reviews that I see on here and everywhere else, I was very disappointed. Our site was in section 1. Driving into our site, the road had deep potholes and were filled with water. It had rained the day before our arrival and some on the arrival day. I understand that, but I can't comprehend why they still have dirt roads that are in such bad shape. Every morning of the weekend, they had trucks dumping dirt to fill the holes. It was a rainy weekend so potholes were part of the experience. The site itself was decent. Not much to complain there. It is filled with crushed shells which with the rain, it can be a bit of a pain.

Our biggest disappointment was the restroom. We were by restroom #2. I don't know if all of the restrooms are just as bad since I did not go to check them out. For restroom #2, no fans pushing air in or out, no A/C. Just an openings on each side of the building (top of the wall). I guess to allow for a cross wind. The first day that we went to take a shower, the bathroom was so damp/wet from the humidity that the mirrors were fogged up. There was water dripping from every surface.

The showers itself were another story. They are so outdated. The shower head were awful in two of the four shower stalls. Water spraying everywhere to the point that the floor outside the stalls were soaked and it made it hard to change clothes and not get your clothes wet. Plus, this stalls are single stalls. So, you take a shower and you step outside to get dress just like being in a HS gym. For as busy this place is since it is next to impossible to get reservations, this bathrooms and road need an upgrade.

Now, the rest of the Fort Desoto park is awesome. No complains there. They just need to invest a bit more money back into their campground, but I don't see it happening because they are not losing any business (except mine and I'm sure one or two...

Great place to spend a whole day or at least a few hours. The Fort is very interesting to walk around - some of the signs are a bit weathered so can be diffucult to read but overall quite detailed. I found it a bit difficult to translate the present location of where I was in relation to the original layout, particularly when walking around the brick piles that indicated where the old buildings would have been, so in some cases it forces you to keep walking on to the next signs to see if any additional info could be gathered - and most of the time, you read something else thats interesting so forget about not knowing where you are. The dog beach was very busy and they have a huge fenced park for them too - seperate for little & large ones. Plenty of dog stations also. We walked along the piers and saw lots of huge brown pelicans, millions of fish and plenty of people trying their luck on catching fish (many were successful!). They are plenty of locations to pitch an umbrella for a sunbathing session - the beaches are sandy, flat and very clean from trash, lifeguards are in certain locations too. Food is available at multiple locations - we had fish & chips which tasted delicious, but they were not available at all locations (the shared menu was hotdogs and burgers). The little nature walk is wheelchair/stroller friendly is a bit boring- not much to see but very shaded. Bike & kayak rentals are possible as well as bring your own. All parking lots are huge with restrooms & showers dependibg on the location. We saw plenty of bbq grills & seating areas (can't think of what they are called!), which can be rented for private gatherings. Highly enjoyable nd definitely recommend a visit for a low-cost yet...