The “Real Florida”

 

Wesley Chapel, Florida ( high 75, low 60)

 

On Sunday we made the 60 some mile north to Homosassa, Florida and toured the Homosassa River Springs State Park.  If you missed the post, you can read about it HERE.

You can easily spend an entire day at Homosassa, but since we’ve been so many times, we made it a short trip.

So….after we left Homosassa, we decided to drive north a few miles to Crystal River Florida.  Crystal River is the place in Florida if you want to see manatee.

There are numerous dive shops that will take you snorkeling, or diving to the springs.  You can rent boats or kayaks.  Or you can catch a bus to Three Sisters Springs and walk the boardwalk overlooking the springs to see manatee without having to get your feet (or butt) wet.

Crystal River is a typical Florida River in that it is fed from underground springs.   Crystal river is mostly dark water and not particularly clear, but if you are near the different springs the water is blue and crystal clear, as you will see in the pictures below.

One tourist thought the springs were man made. He was shocked when he learned this was natural Florida.  There are many, many similar springs all through Florida.  If you visit Florida and only go to the beaches, you are missing the “real Florida,” and some incredible beauty.  Not all the springs are created equal.  Three Sisters is one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful.   We prefer it in the summer months when there aren’t many people.  You might not see manatee, but it’s so incredibly beautiful,  we don’t mind.

Three Sisters Springs are a group of three springs on Crystal River.   We’ve kayaked there many times.  If you want to see if from a kayaking perspective, you can see it here from a previous blog post.  If you want information on where to launch a kayak, check out this post.  If you want to see more manatee pictures, check out this one.

Three Sisters Springs had been purchased back in the 1940’s for a condo development.  Fortunately, they had some financial problems and it was never completed.  It is now a National Wildlife Preserve, and highly guarded and protected.

Although we had kayaked there many times, we never had walked along the boardwalk that is behind the springs.  If you look at the pictures on the other blog posts I linked, you can see a nice boardwalk.  We understood that it was only open a few days a year and we could never figure out which days they were, so we had never been able to see the springs from the boardwalk.

While at Homosassa springs, I asked a volunteer about the boardwalk, and she referred us to a shop in Crystal River, called River Adventures.  They offer manatee snorkeling trips, as well as trips to the boardwalk at Three Sisters Springs.  It turns out, you can now walk the board walk every day, but they have to drive you onto the property, through the locked gate.  It was $5 for seniors, $6 for adults and after we found out that it was a National Wildlife Refuge, we wondered if we could have gotten in free with out National Park pass.   They shop is not on the river, so they provide a bus to take on a 5 minute bus ride.  They dropped our group off and there were several volunteers there to keep an eye on things, and answer questions.  It was money well spent.  You can stay as long as you want, but an hour is enough.

We got a different perspective of the springs by standing up over them, looking down.  The springs are as  beautiful by land as they were by kayak.

After we got off the bus, this was our first view of the clear blue water. 

We walked onto the boardwalk. To the left is the river, to the right are the three different springs.

When you are on the main part of the river, and you come to a congested area, you know you have the right spot.  This picture was taken from a year ago when we kayaked the springs.  Notice the manatee by the yellow kayak?  The area on the top of the picture is the roped off sanctuary area where no people or boats are allowed, but the manatee enjoy people encounters and will frequently swim right up to you.

 

Next you come upon a narrow opening to the right, that is gated.    Snorkelers and kayaks can enter, but no motorboats. You paddle down a narrow channel into a narrow passageway. This was another picture taken from a year ago and it was much sunnier. 

You paddle through the narrow channel like the one seen below.

You might come upon a snorkeler…or a manatee.

Soon it opens up to a big “room”, and this is one of them. 

Incredible, isn’t it?   Remember, other than the board walk, this is all natural.  The dark spots you see are rocks on the bottom, but often those dark spots are manatee.

Most of the manatee were resting in the sanctuary area outside the channel to the springs.  The tide makes it pretty shallow in the passageway during low tides, so they mostly stay outside of the spring area in their sanctuary.

This roped off area, is the sanctuary.  No one is allowed in there. 

A few come out to visit the people.  The youngsters especially like to interact with people.

All of those dark spot are manatee.

 

The canal is pretty narrow, and if a manatee tried to swim in there to the springs, he is likely to meet up with a snorkeler.   The wild life groups are are trying to get the spring area closed down now while there are so many manatee there, but of course the local businesses are fighting it.   I personally think they should close it down, and only allow access via the boardwalk,  but in all fairness, we’ve been there when there were no other people, and the manatee seem to prefer the sanctuary people outside of the springs.  If you saw how shallow the entry way was, you’d understand.  Perhaps, it would be helpful to them to dredge it out a little.

You can see in the picture below this woman walking/snorkeling through the channel with a few manatee right beside her trying to get into the same area.

(Sherry, you may not want to see this)

 

One of these manatee is a baby.

His mom is right next to him.  Isn’t he cute?

We spent an hour or so walking along the boardwalk, soaking in the beauty of the real Florida.   We’ve been there many times, but it never fails to amaze me.

If you want to see manatee, this is the best place….and you don’t even have to get wet!

It’s even prettier on a sunny day.

Just beware though.  There are some strange critters in the Florida waters.

Sasquatch?

Pillsbury dough boy?   (God is going to get me for that)

If you want to snorkel with the manatee, you can take one of the many boats.  I believe it is $45 per person and that includes all the snorkel gear.

Kayaks can also be rented,  or you can walk on the boardwalk and get a wonderful view without getting wet.

This family apparently doesn’t see the the need for a life vest for those two small kids.  It’s pretty shallow where they are, but the entire river is not that shallow.  Shame on them.

 

If you are in central Florida, I would highly recommend a trip to Crystal River and Three Sisters Springs.   River Adventures dive shop  is the only shop that has access to the boardwalk, as far as I know.  The link to the shop is provided earlier in the blog. If you want to snorkel, there are many shops….but not all of them take you to Three Sisters Springs and the other springs are no where near as pretty!

Crystal River Paddle, Part 2

Crystal River, Florida    -   Crystal Isles Rv Resort

We decided to find another place to paddle on Crystal River.  There are a lot of springs all along the river and we decided to go back to the big spring that we had dove in many years ago.  Our memories of that spring were nothing like the beautiful clear waters we were on a few days ago.

We drove around a while until we came across the Port Hotel.  It is located at 1610 Se Paradise Circle, in Crystal River.  It is right across from the main big spring and Banana Island.  This is the area where the largest concentrations of Manatee hang out in the winter.

They were in the process of remodeling this hotel, (it needed it) and appeared to be completely gutting the rooms.  I don’t know if they’ll be finished by the busy season, which will start next month.

It was not the kind of hotel I would stay in, but the location was good if you wanted to do some Manatee diving. 

There is a dive shop, marina with a boat launch right there.

The Dive Shop

Lots of rental and charter boats.

They charged us $5.00 per kayak to launch at the ramp. 

The guy at the dive shop said they have 20-30 Manatee that live there year round.

We didn’t see any Manatee all day.  We heard one come up for air, but that’s it.

We launched the kayaks and paddled right straight across to Banana Island and King Spring.  It was windy and choppy so it was hard to see anything in the water.

The water certainly wasn’t as pretty or clear as our previous paddle on this river to Three Sisters Springs.

Between the choppy seas and the currents, we had to work fairly hard to make any progress.

We stopped at a little beach area and ate our lunch.

You can certainly see the difference in water clarity and color.

Still, it was a pretty nice paddle.  It would have been a great paddle if we had seen some Manatee!

There are some roped off Manatee Sanctuary areas that you are not allowed in.  Unfortunately people love Manatees so much, they have to be protected from all that love.  The barriers will be coming up soon.  The Manatee soon learn where to if they want to interact with people where to go if they want to be left alone.  The youngsters want human contact more than the adults.

It certainly wasn’t as pretty as yesterday’s paddling trip, but during the height of Manatee season, this would be a great place to see manatee….lots of Manatee!   There will be many, many tourists in this area over the next few months, all in search of the gentle Florida Manatee. 

We have come to the conclusion, the Three Sisters Springs area is the prettiest of the entire river.  If you’re looking for pretty, go there.

If you’re looking to see Manatee, go to the area we were at yesterday, by Banana Island.  The dive shop we used many years ago is Plantation Dive Shop.  It’s also in the same area.  They  have boats to rent and manatee diving charters, or you can just go on a boat ride on the river.  You will certainly see manatee during the winter months.  They rent scuba and snorkeling gear, including wetsuits.   A lot of people swim and dive in this river without wetsuits, but in my opinion, this “warm” water calls for a full wetsuit…including hood!

Right next door to the dive shop is The Plantation Golf and Spa Hotel.  It appears to be a very nice hotel and would be the one I would stay in if I was looking for a hotel on the water in Crystal River. 

After we took our kayaks out of the water, we drove around a little to see if we could find another area where there was pretty clear water by a spring.  I read that there are over 30 springs along this river.

We found Hunter Spring Park.  It’s just a little county park and seems pretty popular. There was a picnic pavilion with a bunch of guys drinking beer and smoking what smelled like pot!  Maybe a little more law enforcement might be in order.   I’m not sure I would want to leave our truck there all afternoon while we paddled the river.  There was a nice picnic and swimming area, as well as a boat/kayak launch.  The water was crystal clear and very pretty.

 

 

Lots of wildlife.

Ibis, Great Blue Heron, Sea Gull, Mallard ducks.

 

The  Sea gull was kind of funny.  I was trying to take a picture of the water and kept moving into position.  As I walked closer and closer, he never moved, just stared at me.  I finally decided to take his picture when I was about 2-3 feet away from him.  No, that was not a zoom shot. 

After we explored a while, we made a quick stop at the grocery store them home where Al cooked steaks on the grill.  Yumm…steaks, shrimp (on the barbie), baked potato's and corn on the cob. 

Today  our plan is to drive back to the Rainbow River and paddle up to that beautiful head springs.  Our weather has been beautiful all week, but may deteriorate over the week-end.   It may be now or never to get back to Rainbow River.  Personally, I would rather rest today, but it looks like that’s not happening!   This full time rv’ing life is tiring!  Can’t wait for the week-end so we can rest!   We try to do all our paddling during the week when there are less people around, so week-ends are rest time.

And now for the cute kitten picture (or 2-3) of the day.

Here is Baxter sitting on the steering wheel.  I have a video of him chasing his tail up there.

Here he is sleeping next to his brother on the dash.

He’s growing so fast.  We wish he would stay small longer, but at least he’s not quite as fragile as he was when we got him.  I’m a lot more relaxed now.  Not that he can’t still get into trouble…and he’s constantly looking for it.

Another Incredible Florida River - Three Sisters Springs

Crystal River, Florida

The plan yesterday was to try another paddle on Crystal River.  When we launched at the campsite,  a few days ago, we found that it was not a very nice place to paddle..  The water was muddy and brown.  The following are a few pictures of that trip.

This one is of our motor home from the water. You can see we have a nice campsite but the river isn’t pretty in this area.


We saw a few Fiddler Crabs

The main part of the river, wide, choppy and not very clear.

The canal leading to the main river.

It wasn’t pretty and we decided not to go back.  It wasn’t worth the effort it took.

That wasn’t the case on Tuesday!

I didn’t feel well all day on Tuesday, nothing specific, other than I ached all over and had no energy.  Al was sore from his venture onto the roof and wasn’t energetic either. 

We found another place to launch that was nearer to some springs.  There are some 30 springs on Crystal River.   The launch point we found is  Crystal River Kayak.  We had stopped there many times before over the years and never even realized they were right on the river!  It turns out they have a very nice little kayak launch (or you can rent kayaks) from them.  It’s right off highway 19 which is the main road in town.
They are a short 20 minute paddle to “Three Sisters Springs.”  It cost $7 to launch both boats and park our car.  As it turns out, it was money very well spent.

By the time we got motivated, it was 3:00, so we didn’t have much time as they close at 5:00 pm.
You start off in very shallow, clear water in a canal.  They have a nice floating doc, so launching is easy.   



You meander down the narrow canals.

Go through a tunnel.



It was beautiful from the beginning to the end.

There are houses all along the way once you get to the wider part of the river.  Most people have boats, so it’s deep enough for them.  You can get to the Gulf of Mexico, so there are some larger boats. 

The water is crystal clear and beautiful.



Because this area has a very heavy population of Manatee, there is a “no wake zone” throughout this part of the river.  That makes for nice paddling.  It is strictly  enforced, to the point that,  in season, they even have airplanes watching you!  There are so many Manatee here in the winter months, and they can so easily be harmed by boat propellers, that they have to protect them.  Many people who boat or live on the river disagree with all the rules, but fortunately they lost that battle!



Once it gets colder, there will be lots of manatee here.  We only saw one and he was moving very fast!  This photo was another of my famous over my shoulder photos!



We zigged and zagged until we found the entrance to the “Three Sisters Springs.”  Where there are underground springs, there is beautiful water.  The water is the prettiest right where the springs are.

This is the sign we saw leading to the springs.  It's easy to miss, so look for it.



No motor boats allowed here…in fact I was afraid our fat inflatable kayaks wouldn’t fit.  The following is a picture I took over my shoulder.  I’m getting pretty good at taking pictures behind me, huh?  You have to paddle through the "gate" to get into the spring run area.



You can see the “gate” to keep boats out.  Kayaks and canoes, and manatee are allowed!
Once you get in, it's amazingly beautiful.



Once you get past the gate, you paddle through a narrow canal.  The water is getting prettier and prettier. 

Those are rocks on the side…but they look a lot like Manatee!



It's an easy paddle.

It’s incredibly beautiful!





It starts to open up into two large “rooms.”




There are three springs in this area.
They are “oh my God” beautiful. I have seen springs many, many times, but I never tire of them.
You can see fish swimming around.

In the photo below, you can see the circular spring.  That is where the water is coming out from the aquifer.

The photos below were the other main spring in this area. 


Those are large trees that have fallen into the springs.

The water is so clear that it’s hard to tell, but I’m guessing the water was at least 30 feet deep.  You could easily see all the way to the bottom.  There was a viewing area and board walk over head.  Evidently there is a place to walk to see the springs.  We’ll check that out today.





For most of our visit, we were the only people in his beautiful area.  We just floated over the springs and enjoyed the beauty.
We headed back out the canal and back to the main river.

We went down canals with more homes.  Here is a boat garage….with only 2 kayaks inside.

The main river.

A “swan boat.  Evidently it is used by a local realtor to advertise and take people on tours of the property. Want to buy some beautiful property?

We were told people had been seeing lots of Manatee up by the bridge.   Unfortunately, we didn’t see any.  They will be coming very soon though.  October is a very nice time to kayak this river.  Once the Manatees start concentrating here, they will start stricter enforcement.  Here are some of the guidelines for swimming, viewing manatees.

People come from all over the world, just to swim and dive with the manatee.  We feel very lucky to be here and see these incredible springs.
The following is a picture I found on the internet.  I think it was taken from “Kings Bay.”  It’s another part of the river, that we will probably paddle tomorrow.  All those brown things you see are Manatee.  Note the diver in the bottom right corner?  They are all huddling together to keep warm.  This was taken in the winter of 2011.

There are very strict guidelines.  You are not supposed to touch them, but since they are like big puppy dogs, it’s sometimes difficult when they swim up to you and roll over for you to rub their bellies!  The youngsters are especially friendly!
We only went about 2 miles, but with the springs and tides, we had a bit of  a current for most of the trip.  Of course, being out of shape might have been part of the problem!  We were tired when we got back to the truck.




Although we have dove with the manatee and boated on this river before, we had never been to Three Sisters Springs.
There is another main spring along the Crystal River.  That is the one that we dove into and played with the manatees years ago.  We think the closest place to access that spring is by a local dive shop.  We plan on going there today.  More on that later!