We just got back from a little Spring Break jaunt and for this trip, we executed attempt #2 at a Florida Nature Coast excursion. Below are the details of our trip and recommendations if you want to take your own!
I'm a huge fan of airbnb and I rely HEAVILY on reviews. The property that fit our budget best and seemed to be in the best area was one that, at the time of booking, had NO reviews because it was brand new. However, we decided to take a risk and book it anyway and MAN ARE WE GLAD WE DID! I cannot more highly recommend a place than I can this one. Blaine's place in Homosassa {link here} was absolutely phenomenal. It had room for up to 9 (and we had 8, so perfect), was sparkling clean, was newly renovated, had tvs upstairs and downstairs, lots of games and activities, a beautiful deck, the most comfortable beds, and an awesome deck with kayaks and fishing poles for your use! It had a huge yard and was located on a river, plus was incredibly convenient to everything in town. You will NOT be disappointed with this booking!
We left early Monday morning and drove down to Florida, arriving at our house around 5 PM. We unloaded and settled in, enjoyed the dock for a while, then headed out to walmart to get some needed snack foods. We called pizzas in to Pizza Hutt while at walmart and picked them up on the way home, then enjoyed our dinner in the nice dining and kitchen area of our airbnb.
Tuesday morning, we had our manatee swim booked and needed to be there at 7:00. It was about 15-20 min away in Crystal River. I did a lot of research on the various companies and settled on River Ventures and I am glad that we did. Apparently, even though we went during what is considered "manatee season", the warmer temps the last few years have made March less of "manatee season" than what it once was. Therefore, instead of getting to swim in the springs with them, we had to go out into King's Bay and look for them there. We did find four to swim with, but the water was very murky and so now I want to go back and do it in clear water with lots of them. :) Even still, our guides were fabulous, looking for them and keeping them entertained for us to swim with them. This company is incredible! (I also had just googled promo codes and found one to get a percentage off when I booked.)
After we did our swim, we ran back to our house to change, then grabbed lunch at The Shed. It was basically a food truck with a tiki roof over a bunch of picnic tables on the river, but it was really very good and fast. I felt like it was a little pricey, but not too bad.
Our next stop was to River Ventures's sister location, River Safaris in Homosassa, where we had an airboat tour booked for the afternoon. This was awesome because I had gotten a Groupon for these tours and we had thought we were going to have to take turns in groups of 4 going on this trip. However, when I called to book, they told me they could get another captain and his boat in and we could all go at the same time, which was perfect! The ride was the favorite activity of some of the kids (even better than the manatees, which makes me sad). We did go by Monkey Island, which was really cool too.
That first day was Francisco's bday, so we wanted to go somewhere cool for dinner that night. We settled on Crumps Landing. This ended up being a poor choice. :) It was on the river and had lots of activities, a beautiful view, and riverfront dining. The other thing it had was a wait of 1 hour and 35 minutes for our food when there was literally NO ONE there. Then, when our food DID come, Francisco's wasn't there. {eye roll} They did give him a free dessert and SAID they were taking a percentage off his meal, but I didn't even check, we were so eager to get out of there.
The following morning, we got up and headed to Ellie Schiller State Park, which was just about 5 minutes from our house. I had heard lots of good things about it and it was really a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. We are fans of animals, so this was cool. We did not do the boat ride due to time, but I wish we had time to do it. They had given us a 20% off coupon at River Ventures for this, so that was much appreciated.
Our plan after Ellie Schiller was to head south looking for sand and sun. We had considered stopping at Tarpon Springs to see the sponge boats and then going on to Honeymoon Island. Instead, we headed to Tarpon Springs and randomly picked a lunch spot (Tarpon Turtle Grill and Marina). The food was SO GOOD and the environment (on the water again) was awesome.
From there, we headed across to Sunset Beach, not sure what we would find, and we LOVED it. It wasn't too crowded and it was such a beautiful and nice public beach. The water was cold, no waves, and the sand was nice. We spent several hours there and got our fill of beach till summer.
After our stay at Sunset Beach, we drove on to the downtown sponge dock area of Tarpon Springs and spent some time strolling around (by then it was around 5:30), shopping, and sightseeing. We found a place to park for $3, which was much better than the $8 lot we first found. Tarpon Springs is a nice little Greek town, small but lots to see and enjoy. We were given a menu on the street, so we decided to have a Greek dinner at Mama's and we were not disappointed. It was really good food, great service, and a nice open air dinner.
By that time, the sun was setting on our last day in Florida, so we ambled back to the car (saw a great Greek pastry shop but were too full to indulge) and headed back to our house in Homosassa.
We left early this morning to head back, loaded up with fabulous memories of an awesome trip! I highly recommend this one!
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