This week, I had the immense pleasure of seeing a great friend in Central Florida. We originally met when I worked in Everglades National Park last summer and have kept in touch! I decided we should do some florida-core activities since she hasn’t experienced much of the state!
We met up at a Hipcamp site in Crystal River for a 3 day get away! Our first day was mostly spent driving for her, as it took her about 8 hours to get from Flamingo, Everglades NP to the campsite.
For me, the drive was much shorter (roughly two and a half hours from Jacksonville), so I spent some time enjoying the beauty our campsite had to offer!
For tent camping, this was my first time using my Walmart brand Ozark Trail Overized 1 Person hiker tent. It performed very nicely and I recommend it, though not for serious backpacking as it weighs 4.5 pounds!
Crystal River
Once we arrived near the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, we were planning on going on a birding tour prior to our snorkel excursion. We unfortunately found out that all such programs at the refuge have been canceled due to staffing issues with recent federal cuts. This is your reminder that our public federal lands NEED to be staffed to remain properly protected and accessible to the public! I would also like to shout out the staff of the Crystal River Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center for being so amazing!
Instead of the birding tour, we made our way to the Three Sisters Springs area of the wildlife refuge. There, we did a short hike with several viewing spots to possibly see manatees. We saw quite a few sleeping!
Manatees swim inland towards the springs in FL in colder months, as they do not tolerate lower temperatures. Manatees are in danger of death in water cooler than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. This is why we see them at the springs, which remain 72 degrees F year round, in large numbers in the winter!
After our walk and visit to the visitors center, it was time to head to our boat! We got a tour with Nature’s Discovery. Our guide, Gary, was very personable and engaging. He did an awesome job keeping us and the manatees safe. Our captain, Dylan, was very knowledgeable about the local area and wildlife as well! They even made us hot chocolate to warm up after we got out of the water. Overall, this tour was a 10 out of 10!
I took all of our photos with the GoPro Hero 10. This was my first time using it and I loved it!
Our tour provided a pool noodle and snorkels with defog spray! Now for the best part of the post… MANATEE PHOTOS!!! These are just a few of my favorite shots!
Overall, I loved this experience. I will never forget being so close to these amazing creatures. I completely recommend it to all floridians and out of state visitors!
Silver Springs
On the next day of our trip, I was thrilled to show Kensie Silver Springs State Park. I have visited this park many times, probably about 10 since I was a child! This park has a rich history and even richer ecosystem. And of course it is just plain beautiful. We booked a one hour guided tour at 9am with the park concessionaire, Paddle Adventures.
You may notice that sign is kind of big and bold for a state park. That’s because the sign is a relic of a time when Silver Springs was a theme park! It only became a state park in 2013, but has been a gem of Florida for centuries.
While getting ready for our tour, this guy showed up above the kiosk! If you’re a north or central floridian, you know about these monkeys! But you may not know how they got here. A man named Colonel Tooey had a tour boat business in the springs and decided to introduce twelve of these monkeys to give the tours a jungle cruise like feel. Now, they are considered to be an invasive species.
Like I said before, I’ve been to Silver Springs many times, but today was the first time I spotted any of these monkeys! We saw around 10 on our whole trip.
Our guided kayak tour was awesome! The other folks on our tour didn’t make it, so we had a private tour. Since Kensie and I are also eco professionals, we had a nice conversational style talk with our guide!
Our kayak tour was simply amazing. Silver Springs is teeming with wildlife. We saw many Anhingas and Cormorants gathering material for their nests! We even saw a pair of them mating. And they weren’t the only ones getting down to business! We also saw a mating pair of manatees. The manatee photos below are them pre-mating, because sharing manatee porn isn’t cool.
Silver Springs is more beautiful everytime I see it! I always recommend this Florida treasure!
Rainbow Springs
After our morning tour at Silver Springs, our day was up in the air. We grabbed some lunch and decided to head to nearby Rainbow Springs. Unlike Silver Springs, Rainbow Springs State Park allows swimming! I had been craving a swim our entire trip, so I was so excited for this! And it totally lived up to my hype!
After a quick swim, we got on our kayak and began paddling down the river. I will say, the tandem kayak we rented from the park did not track well at all. I don’t really recommend it. We had a lovely time in the river despite issues with our kayak. We saw plenty of birds including Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Purple & Common Gallanules, Anhingas and Cormorants!
farewell!
I’m writing this post before heading to bed. Tomorrow, Kensie and I will go our separate ways. I have so enjoyed our time together and the amazing aspects of Florida we got to share. I’ll miss her big time but know we will be reunited again soon!
Groleau 
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