Boats rise and settle in the chamber at Ortona Lock on the Caloosahatchee, and the water by the gates is where campers at Ortona South watch for manatees. The Corps of Engineers campground lies east of Cape Coral past LaBelle, with the river along its north edge and open pasture to the south. Sabal palms line the sites, ospreys work the river, and alligators and otters turn up along the bank for anyone willing to sit still long enough.
It's a week for staying put. The motorhome parks once, the awning goes out, and the days run on the lock: a boat in the chamber, the slow change in water level, the gates swinging open, a kid calling out the first manatee. The wooden fishing pier is closed for structural failure as of October 2026, according to the Recreation.gov alert, so the lock is the show.
Florida heat is what makes this a trip for a rig. All 51 sites carry water and electric hookups on concrete pads with 30 and 50 amp service, off SR 80 about eight miles east of LaBelle (Recreation.gov). The air conditioning holds through the afternoon, and everyone comes back in to cool off between rounds at the lock.
Book the site before you book the rig. Recreation.gov posts a length for each pad rather than one cap for the loop, up to 41 feet at site 36, a paved back-in. Match the motorhome to the pad you actually reserved. Two families traveling together can reserve sites 41 and 42, pull-throughs that share a driveway for two RVs. If your pad runs short or the trip is just the two of you, a smaller campervan is the easier fit.
Tranquility Lakes, a lakefront week inside Cape Coral
Encore Tranquility Lakes keeps the week in town, with lakefront sites backing onto a 90-acre lake and pools and a clubhouse for the hottest part of the day. It's the easy base for a week on the Cape and the islands west of it, and the first night is a short drive across town. Sites are concrete pads with 50-amp full hook-up pedestals, and you don't need a Thousand Trails membership to book.
Some of the trailers in the listings come with an owner who delivers to the site and sets it up, so nobody in the family tows. That's arranged listing by listing and is never a standard part of a rental, and booking the site is still on you.
Winter is when Cape Coral sites get scarce. January through April is the busy stretch, and spring training across the river in Fort Myers lands in the middle of it, competing for the same rigs and the same resort sites. The ballpark weeks and the Estero resort belt are on the Fort Myers RV page.
Pine Island, Matlacha and the boat to Cayo Costa
Pine Island is the day out from either pad, about 17 miles of fishing towns west of the Cape. The road out crosses Matlacha first, where the shops sit right over the water along the roadside and it's hard to get through without stopping. Keep going to Bokeelia at the north end for the fishing pier and a long look across the water toward the barrier islands.
The island has no beach of its own, so the sand comes by boat. Tropic Star of Pine Island runs tours from its Bokeelia marina out to Cayo Costa and Cabbage Key, plus a drop-off service for people camping at Cayo Costa State Park, and the rig sits that day out.
For a night on the island itself, Pine Island KOA is a family park down at St. James City. The rest of the state's hookup weeks, from the Keys to the Panhandle, are on the Florida RV page.