Hontoon Island State Park, on the St. Johns River near DeLand, Florida, isn't a drive-up campground at all — it's an island reachable only by private boat or the park's passenger ferry, and its overnight accommodation for boaters is a set of marina slips rather than tent pads or RV pull-throughs. If the plan is to bring your own boat, tie up, and wake up on the St. Johns for a morning of fishing, this is the setup to know.
Campground Overview
Hontoon Island State Park is a 1,650-acre island in Volusia County, managed by Florida State Parks, with mainland parking and ferry access at 2309 River Ridge Road, DeLand, FL 32720. The island itself sits at the confluence of the St. Johns River, the Hontoon Dead River, and Snake Creek, about six miles west of DeLand off State Road 44.
There are three separate overnight options on the island: the marina's boat slips, a 12-site primitive tent campground, and six rustic one-room cabins. This guide covers the boat slips specifically — the tent sites and cabins are booked and used differently, and shouldn't be confused with a moorage reservation.
The park spent roughly three years closed for hurricane repairs and reopened to the public on Oct. 20, 2025, with daily ferry service resuming. As of this writing, the park, ferry, and marina are operating normally, though it's worth confirming current status before a trip given the recent closure history.
Location and Access
There is no road onto Hontoon Island. Visitors without their own boat park at the mainland lot on River Ridge Road and take the park's passenger ferry, which — per the park's current schedule, effective Oct. 28, 2025 — runs daily from 8 a.m. until two hours before sundown, with the last boat off the island one hour before sundown. Boaters with their own vessel can approach the island's marina directly and skip the ferry.
This access model is the single most important thing to plan around: a marina slip is not a parking-lot campsite you drive to. It's an overnight mooring you sail or motor into.
Camping Options
Boat Camping (Marina Slips)
This is the accommodation type the marina is built for: reserve a slip, bring your boat as your overnight lodging, and use the island's showers, restrooms, and trails while docked. Boat campers sleep aboard their own vessel — the park doesn't provide a boat.
Tent Camping
Hontoon Island also has a separate 12-site primitive tent campground, each site with a picnic table, a ground grill, and access to potable water. There's no electricity at the tent sites, though nearby restrooms have hot and cold showers and flush toilets. This is a distinct reservation from a marina slip and uses a different part of the island.
RV Camping
There is no RV camping at Hontoon Island. The island has no road access for vehicles of any kind, so an RV or travel trailer can't be brought to either the marina or the tent campground. Boaters looking for a slip and RVers looking for a pull-through site are looking for two different kinds of trips entirely.
Electricity and Hookups — and a Note on Slip Numbers
Every marina slip includes shore power and a water hookup, which is the main practical advantage of mooring here instead of anchoring out. There is no sewer connection at individual slips.
Here's where the available information genuinely conflicts, and it's worth being upfront about it rather than picking one number and moving on. The state park's broader marina inventory has historically been documented at 42 slips, with published figures citing a top vessel capacity of 60 feet and 30-amp marine-style hookups. Separately, Hontoon Island Adventures — the concessionaire currently operating the park's boating and rental program — advertises 20 rentable slips in two size tiers: one for boats up to 25 feet and one for boats up to 50 feet, both with 30-amp power and water included.
That gap most likely reflects the marina's operating capacity since the park's October 2025 reopening, rather than a change to the state's underlying slip count on paper. Either way, the number that actually matters for booking a trip is the concessionaire's current 20-slip, 25-ft/50-ft program — that's what determines whether your boat fits and whether a slip is actually available. Confirm current slip size and availability directly with the park or concessionaire before finalizing plans, since the two figures don't agree.
Campsite Facilities
Boat campers have access to restrooms and hot showers at the marina, along with the park's wider amenities: a picnic area with tables and grills, a playground, an interpretive visitor center, and canoe, kayak, and bicycle rentals through the island store. There's no sewer hookup at the slips themselves, so this is closer to a well-equipped mooring than a full-hookup marina.
Water Access
Water access is essentially the whole point here. The St. Johns riverbank sits right next to the marina — about 270 feet away — and the nearest kayak/canoe launch point is roughly 550 feet from the slips, a little over a tenth of a mile. The island is fully surrounded by water, with the St. Johns River to the north and east, the Hontoon Dead River to the west, and Snake Creek to the south, and it connects into the broader Hontoon Dead River paddling trail system. Some paddling routes around the park can be seasonally affected — Snake Creek can become impassable at times, and the spring run at nearby Blue Spring closes to boating in winter to protect sheltering manatees — so it's worth checking current water conditions before a paddling side trip.
Best Slip Characteristics
Because this is a marina rather than a row of individual campsites, the usual considerations — shade, privacy, distance between neighbors — don't really apply. The one specification worth confirming ahead of time is size: pick a slip tier that actually fits your vessel, based on the concessionaire's current 25-ft and 50-ft classes rather than the older 60-ft figure some sources still list. Beyond that, there isn't enough verified slip-by-slip detail to call out one berth as better than another for view or convenience.
Reservations and Availability
Florida State Parks' official policy allows marina reservations up to 11 months in advance, through the state park reservation system or by calling 866-455-2925. This is worth flagging because some older listings for Hontoon Island still describe the slips as first-come, first-served with no reservations accepted — that appears to be outdated information from before the park's recent reopening, and the current official guidance is to reserve ahead.
Given the conflicting slip-count and reservation history floating around online, calling ahead to confirm both availability and current policy is a reasonable extra step for this particular marina, more so than at most conventional campgrounds.
Fees
Per the current Florida State Parks fee schedule, marina moorage runs $23 per night, with weekly rates listed at $120 and $210 depending on the rate category, plus a $9 daily utility fee covering water and electric hookup. A standard $6.70 nonrefundable reservation fee applies as it does across the Florida State Parks system. There is no day-use entrance fee for Hontoon Island itself — the ferry ride and park access are free, with donations welcomed.
Fees are set by Florida State Parks and can change; confirm current pricing when booking, and note that the utility fee is charged in addition to the base moorage rate.
Rules and Regulations
Fishing within the park must follow applicable Florida rules on species, size, method, and season, and a Florida freshwater fishing license is required for anglers 16 and older. In the primitive tent camping area, tying lines, wires, or ropes to vegetation is prohibited, and generators aren't allowed at the campsites — those specific rules apply to the tent sites and shouldn't be assumed to extend to the marina without separate confirmation. As with all Florida State Parks, rules and fees can change, so verify current regulations with the park or managing agency before traveling.
Pets and Campfires
Pets are allowed under Florida State Parks' standard pet policy and must be kept on a leash no longer than six feet. Campfire rules follow the park's designated-area and fire-condition guidelines, which can shift with weather and drought conditions — check current restrictions before counting on a fire.
Nearby Activities
Fishing is the park's strongest draw for boat campers: Florida State Parks lists catfish, bream, bass, sunfish, perch, and crappie among the species found in this stretch of the St. Johns River. Paddling is a close second, with canoe and kayak rentals available at the island store and access to the wider Hontoon Dead River paddling system — some paddlers make the roughly 3.5-mile run up the St. Johns to Blue Spring State Park one way. On land, a self-guided trail follows the Hontoon Dead River to a large Native American shell mound, and the park has around eight miles of trails in total, plus bicycle rentals for exploring them.
Current Conditions
The park reopened Oct. 20, 2025 after roughly three years of hurricane-related closure, and ferry service, camping, and the marina are currently operating on that basis. The ferry schedule was updated effective Oct. 28, 2025 to run until two hours before sundown, with the last ferry an hour before sundown. Given the recent long closure and the active discrepancy in slip counts between the state park's historical figures and the concessionaire's current program, this is a park worth double-checking with a phone call before a trip, more than most.
Safety
Boaters should plan around changing river conditions and follow standard boating regulations when approaching or docking at the marina. Paddlers should check current conditions before relying on routes like Snake Creek, which can become impassable. Visitors relying on the ferry need to plan arrivals and departures around its published schedule, since the island has no road connection to the mainland.
Nearby Services
The island store handles on-site basics — canoe, kayak, and bicycle rentals plus camping supplies. For groceries, fuel, or anything more substantial, DeLand is about six miles away on the mainland.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Boat slips with water and shore power, right on the St. Johns River
- Strong, well-documented fishing (bass, bream, sunfish, perch, crappie, catfish)
- Access to a wider paddling network, including a route toward Blue Spring State Park
- Showers, restrooms, and a full park of trails and rentals available to boat campers
- Reservations available up to 11 months out
Cons:
- Boat-only or ferry-only access — no direct road route for anyone without a vessel
- Published slip counts and maximum boat lengths conflict between the state park's historical data (42 slips, up to 60 ft) and the concessionaire's current program (20 slips, up to 25 ft or 50 ft) — confirm before booking
- No sewer hookup at the slips
- No RV or drive-up tent camping option at the marina itself
- Recently reopened after an extended closure, so conditions and inventory may still be settling
Final Verdict
For a boater — especially an angler — who wants to turn a day on the St. Johns River into an overnight trip, Hontoon Island's marina slips are a genuinely good fit: water and power at the slip, real fishing right off the dock, and access to a state park's worth of trails and paddling once you're tied up. It is not, and shouldn't be mistaken for, a conventional campground — there's no RV camping here, and even tent camping is a separate reservation in a different part of the island.
The one thing to get right before booking is the slip itself. Don't rely on the older 42-slip, 60-foot-capacity figures still floating around some sites; the concessionaire currently running the marina lists 20 slips split between 25-foot and 50-foot classes. Call ahead, confirm your boat fits the current program, and reserve — Florida State Parks now takes marina reservations up to 11 months out, despite some outdated listings still describing the slips as first-come, first-served.
