Crystal River, 2016

We said our goodbyes to Bob and Sue, and their new puppy, and headed south to Crystal River. Its been a long trip but we are a few days early so we stopped at Rock Crusher Rv Park, deciding to check out the manatees.

After resting a day, we decided to return to Crystal River Archeological Park. There we discovered they had redone several of the exhibits and were now showing a new film of the park. We also walked the paths outside hoping to see some wildlife and after climbing the largest mound, Renita heard the sound made by an aquatic mammal spouting.

Sure enough, there were three manatees swimming in the river, heading towards Three Sisters Springs. Even though they were quite far away but we were still able to see them as they came to the surface to breath.

The next day we packed a lunch and headed to Fort Island Beach. The area was damaged from the Hurricane Hermonie. As we drove in we saw a few palm trees that had not recovered their fronds from the high winds but the beach and parking lot was open.

Walking along the beach a large flock of black skimmers rose in alarm before circling and landing in the same spot. The tide was out and there were quite a few seaweeds rising from the ocean floor. A little further we saw the boat ramp and a boardwalk were closed from the surge.

On the fishing pier a couple checked their crabs traps and put a nice blue crab in the bucket. Another fisherman cast his net trying to catch some bait but the bait kept just far enough from the pier and he didn’t have any luck.

I waded out and the water seemed quite cold, but it was still warmer then the cold trout streams of western Wyoming. It’s definitely a place to kayak but we didn’t bring the kayaks, (we are in the process of looking for shorter kayaks and not quite ready to buy).

So today we are driving to St Petersburg where we will spend two months. We do hope to make a trip to the Everglades and of course search the beaches for sharks teeth, shells and beach glass. Clear skies