Crystal River, Florida

Crystal River has been a delightful stop. The manatees that congregate here in the winter are the highlight, but overall it has a pretty laid back feel. Locals refer to it as living in the bubble. Retirees from across the country are here “in-season” before hitting the road when hot weather arrives. So there are lots of amenities, shopping, restaurants and no traffic jams. Drivers even stop to let you cross the road.

Seven miles up river from the Gulf of Mexico, the town is sandwiched between a state park, an aquatic marsh preserve and a national wildlife refuge. The first few miles of the river wind through marsh followed by a hammock forest.

The village encircles King’s Bay with housing developments stretching back from the river on man-made canals. To say that the road network is torturous is an understatement but they have a well developed path system for golf carts, cyclists, walkers and those of us with electric scooters.

King’s Bay is fresh water despite having tides of 3-6 feet.  There are at least 70 freshwater springs in the area pumping out millions of gallons of water daily. The spring water runs about 72 degrees. This is what attracts the manatees to the area. They apparently have no blubber layer and cannot maintain their body temperature when the water is below 62 degrees. So they congregate wherever they can find warm water. And, Manatees are big business. We are slipped at Pete’s Pier which is home port for people giving guided tours of the manatees. There are dozens of businesses with boats leaving from here steadily – even midweek.

Yesterday we decided to follow the herd and it was awesome. We dropped the dinghy and went exploring King’s Bay and the canal system that leads to Three Sisters Springs. There was a constant parade of pontoon boats both private and charters, guided kayak tours, stand-up paddle boards tours, swimmers and us. Paddlers stay to the left, motor boats to the right. We stopped our motor and just drifted a long, paddling when necessary to avoid the other traffic. We were lucky enough to see a mother and calf, plus a huge single manatee that came over to us and gave the dinghy a bit of a nudge.

One our way back to the boat, we circled over to Simplify who were still anchored in the bay. Marty and Kelly were one of the boats we travelled with from Carrabelle to Steinhatchee (4 am departure) then on to Crystal River. They had said they were leaving but it looked like they had changed their minds. It turns out that they did try to leave but encountered a strong low tide and a rocky bottom on their way out. They came back into King’s Bay and are waiting for a prop to be sent from home and a diver to install it. Ouch!