Crystal River
After a brief stop in Dunedin, Fl to visit our dear friends who served us a light but sumptious feast, we arrived at our KOA Campground, which proved to be little more than a giant parking lot for RV's and 4 postage sized tent sites near the playground (bad) and the rest rooms (good).
We got the tent up pretty quickly but it was so windy, the fly that goes over the tent kept blowing away.
Finally, the folks in the next tent site (who live two miles from us in Cape Coral, came over to help.
We have everything we need in the van for a three month stay, as long as there are no people in it. Since our memories are spotty at best, we are constantly losing and then finding one of the hundreds of items available to us. We were forced to invoke our friend Marlene's mantra of “Patience and Kindness.” There were also occasional buddhist chants, prayers to St. Anthony and swear words. But we managed to sleep well the first night.
March 3: Weeki Wachee Springs State Park
This road side tourist attraction has been open since 1947. Underwater performances by “Mermaids” take place twice a day in the site's natural spring. The “mermaids” perform, do sometsaults, sing, eat apples, talk to the audience, and give the history of the park, all while underwater.
But the springs have been known to man for hundreds of years and were first discovered by the Spanish conquistadors. No one has been able to determine the true depth of the fresh water springs but they are at least 400 feet deep.
The park has been visited by many famous people, including Elvis, Jimmy Buffett, Johnny Cash, and Joe Dimaggio.
After the show, you can take a ride down the clear green water, or join a park ranger for a nature demo and touch an alligator, snake or sea turtle.
March 4: Manatees
Our goal today was to kayak in a glass bottom kayak, but the winds were too strong and most of the kayak ports were closed. So we settled for a visit to Three Sister Springs to see manatees languish in the crystal water, which is 98 percent pure and good enough to drink.
Afterwards, we had lunch at a great place called “Amy's on the Avenue”. Sandwiches were delicious, as were the pastries and candy. Not a good diet day.
