FLORIDA GULF COAST TRIP - APRIL 23 - 27, 2018.

Took a few days to explore the west coast of Florida.  Had heard of great places to see north of Tampa before the coast bends south of Tallahassee.  Stayed at an RV park in Inglis, just north of Crystal River, named Gulf Coast RV Resort.  A nice park with a heated pool, but the pool is located under the limbs of an oak tree that kept shedding leaves into the pool.  All other facilities were very nice.  In the past the park was an independent business, but now has recently been bought by a corporation that will standardize it along with several other parks.  Time will tell whether this will be good for the customer.

Our site at the RV Park.

We had naively hoped to swim with the manatees while there, but found out they return to the Gulf with warmer weather, which came this year in mid-March.  To see a lot of them for such an experience, one must come December-February, which we may do in the future.

We limited our exploration to Cedar Key, Homosassa Springs State Park, and Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.  I had visited Cedar Key in 1966 with my parents, but found it to be quite different now.  The area is a cluster of islands, with the boundary of the town having been moved since my last visit.  The old pencil museum is not the highlight that it used to be, and the petting zoo was no longer there.  We went on a Tuesday only to find that much of the town was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  The focus of the area now is for retirees from the north who come down and drive around in golf carts, which outnumber cars.  We ate at one of the restaurants, but found the food not to be very good.  It is all atmosphere in this place, as aging "hippies" congregate to share common memories.

On the way to Cedar Key we saw a rather unpretentious road to the left named, "Follow That Dream Parkway."  On the way back to the RV park we turned in to see how it got that name.  Turns out that Elvis Presley filmed a movie there by that name, so the town named the road after the film.  A road sign further explains that the filming mostly was done near the bridge over Bird Creek, so we followed the road to the bridge, which is in Yankeetown, a place I had heard of but never visited before.

Sign Along Follow That Dream Parkway

Bird Creek Bridge Area

We got the movie after our trip and was surprised to see how much the area had changed since 1961.  The whole area to the right side of the bridge, which we mostly ignored in this photo, was a sandy beach along the water leading far to the right in the movie.  Now it is all covered with a jungle of palmettos and underbrush too thick to penetrate.  The bridge area, and all to the left, is still a beautiful place.  In fact, all of Yankeetown is a gem of an area.  If you continue down this "Parkway" to the Gulf, you find a boat launch area that is also beautiful.

Area to Left of Bridge

Betty Watches Windy Departure of Fishing Boat By Launch Area

Sun Setting Beyond Boat Launch Area

Homosassa Springs State Park was the highlight of the visit.  The collection of wildlife was a joy to see and photograph, with wading birds present nearly as abundantly as at St Augustine's Alligator Farm rookery.

Anhinga Swimming at Homosassa Springs

Blue Heron at Homosassa Springs

Blue Heron Closeup at Homosassa Springs

Golden Eagle at Homosassa Springs

Very Tame Gray Squirrel at Homosassa Springs

Green Heron at Homosassa Springs

Hippopotamus at Homosassa Springs

Ibis at Homosassa Springs

Manatee Being Fed at Homosassa Springs

Pelican at Homosassa Springs

Roseate Spoonbill at Homosassa Springs

Roseate Spoobills at Homosassa Springs

Flamingos at Homosassa Springs

Whitetail Deer at Homosassa Springs

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is of interest if you want to go into the water with scuba or snorkel gear and see the fish in crystal clear water.  The water park portion is like the water parks in Orlando except here one lands in crystal clear spring water instead of a large swimming pool.  The part of the park where one sits in a theater and watches "mermaids" swim in the crystal spring has pretty much seen its day.  There are TV screens on the wall that show mostly black-and-white videos of the heyday when many young shapely ladies swam in mermaid outfits, doing stunts with water scooters and other props.  Now all you get are a couple ladies swimming the same loops over and over.  All the talent has fled to Orlando.  It is a wonderful setting and a shame to be such a shadow of its former glory.  People still pack the theater to watch, but word of mouth will eventually change that.  We took a boat ride along the river that feeds the springs area but found it to be a short ride with little to see.  A beautiful area, and likely a joy to swim, but not worth the price of admission unless you want to get into the water.  This is likely true of other springs in the area also.

"Mermaid" Doing the Roll, Which Is All They Do

Weeki Wachee Springs.  Theater on Left.  Water Park on Right.

Very Tame Peacock at Weeki Watchee Springs State Park

Gray Squirrel at Weeki Watchee Wildlife Walk

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the area this time of year is the flying swarms of "sand flies" (locals call them "flying piranhas"), which are so small that a pencil point dot on paper would be no bigger.  They come in as the sun sets and cover you, even swarming into your hair and biting your scalp.  They slowly disappear as darkness sets in, only to return the following sunset.  Some call them "no see ums," which we have on the Atlantic coast but they only bite individually, not in swarms, usually around the ankles.  We had never experienced anything like these pests.  Our visit last year to the panhandle of Florida also exposed us to a host of flying pests, but those were big enough to see and swat.  One can either avoid this area this time of year, or simply flee indoors at sunset.  It seems the Gulf has its own ecosystem for bugs.