I’ll be visiting family in Jacksonville and Coconut Creek in the Sunshine State in January. I’ve been to the Devil’s Millhopper (meh), the world’s largest bat house (a lot of fun but too many people being noisy), and Coral Castle (short version- a man who stood 5’ even and weighed 100 pounds moved coral blocks weighing an average of two tons without help and without powered machinery. I would see it again). I want very much to see Estero/the Koresh compound. I first learned of it in Eccentric Lives And Peculiar Notions (the same book that first told me of Coral Castle). My grasp of geography is VERY poor. I have no idea what sites lised are within reasonable travel of the relatives I’ll be staying with. http://www.weirdus.com/states/florida/index.php I turn to the SDMB for aid.
Coconut Creek is just south of Boca Raton? Estero is due west of there (130 miles/2 hour drive) along Alligator Alley, between Ft. Myers and Naples.
Thanks. I think that crosses Estero off the list then. 
Unless there’s something else in that area to justify the drive (and possible hotel stay).
Google tells me Naples FA is 111 road miles from Coconut Creek (the Koresh Park is near Naples). There is a bus that goes between the two for about 24 dollars and supposedly takes about 2 hours and 13 minutes.
The park appears to be almost directly west of Coconut Creek, but on the west. Gulf coast of Florida where Jacksonville and Coconut Creek are on the eastern or Atlantic side.
Try looking at the Naples tourism site which lists other sights to see if there are things that might make it worth the trip.
Plus, that area was just plastered by a hurricane, so proceed with caution.
Jacksonville is about 5 hours north of Coconut creek, both on the east coast of the state. Assuming you are driving between the two, anything on the eastern seaboard should be accessible along the way. That would include places like Daytona Beach and Cape Canaveral. Neither of those are oddities, however.
I don’t recognize most of the places on your link off the top of my head, but if I get a break during my cooking prep tomorrow, I can try to look some up and see where they are.
(I live around 20 minutes from Coconut Creek. I’m odd, but not an Oddity.)
Jacksonville is nowhere near Naples/Estero (5.5 hours’ drive according to Google), though it is practically due north because of the angle Florida juts out into the sea, despite being on the opposite coast - Jacksonville is listed as 81’39"41 W vs. Naples’ 81’48 W. This means that Coconut Creek on the Atlantic Coast not much further north than Naples might be a LONGER drive than Naples, but I don’t know how the roads go precisely. I’m sure there’s a road that goes straight down the coast, but not one that goes due south.
Going south from Jacksonville takes you to St.Augustine where you can find The Fountain of Youth
Go south down the coast (beautiful drive) takes you through the town of Marineland. The attraction opened back in 1938.
A little further south runs you into Daytona/Port Orange where you can find Sugarmill Gardens which still has some of the original dinosaurs from Bongoland. One of Florida’s first attractions (1939) long before Walt Disney arrived.
Another 30 minutes inland down I-4 from there is the town of Cassadaga. Home to a bunch of spiritualists and psychics.
Following the coast down to Titusville then going inland a bit (20 minutes) takes you to the town of Christmas. You can see Swampy, the world’s largest alligator (statue). Around that area you can find airboat rides that are quite an experience.
From what I gather from the news, you can’t swing a cat without hitting a weird oddity in Florida.
I live in Ponte Vedra Beach, which is between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. I haven’t been to most of the sites you mentioned. There isn’t much odd to see in Jax (except the people), but St. Augustine has a number of oddities worth seeing:
Here’s a list of various tours in St. Augustine—some are odd. The ghost tours are spooky fun.
There are a number of odd things to see in St. Augustine on this list.
If you think big alligators are odd, then the St. Augustine Alligator Farm is a site to see.
Strolling down St. George Street is fun. It has a few odd shops sprinkled about.
Ripley’s Believe It or Not is worth visiting, though a little underwhelming.
Potter’s Wax Museum is odd in an uncanny valley kinda way.
The Ponte Vedra Concert Hall is nice. Sometimes they book odd acts.
It’s kind of out of your way, but Mouseville near Tallahassee sounds awesome. They even have a mouse circus. It’s just down the road from the Dog University.
If Mouseville is good enough for Mr. Jingles, it’s good enough for me. Mice, yum.
Me too. On both counts.