1181 January 11, 2025 Crystal River

We had lots of overnight rain but by dawn, the rain had stopped. The skies were cloudy but I was able to take a nice walk around the campground.

Today we took a daytrip. We traveled about an hour north on the Suncoast Parkway to the town of Crystal River, “Home of the Manatee.” We had read that because of the Arctic blast and the lower temperatures, the manatees were seeking refuge in the warmer waters of the rivers and springs along the coast to avoid cold stress syndrome.

Nearby Blue Springs State Park hosted almost 800 manatees yesterday…think manatee soup!

Our first stop was Hunter Spring Park. We walked to the edge of the river and thought we saw a few shadows in the water that might have been manatees. There were lots of tour boats in the river. There were also some folks snorkeling and presumably watching manatees.

We talked to some other people at the park who said that they had just come from Three Sisters Springs and there were lots of manatees there. We drove the short distance to the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. After paying the fee and donning our wristbands, we walked through the park to the boardwalk along the inlet and to the spring areas.

There were more than 200 manatees in the springs today. We watched a mama cow nursing her calf. It was beautiful! Watching these gentle mammals in their natural habitat was amazing.

There are steel bollards that form a gate. This allows the manatees to enter and leave the springs.

As we walked the loop along the river, we saw an otter in the tall grass. It quickly slipped into the water as we approached.

It was windy and chilly and so we ate our picnic lunch in the Jeep. We drove back in a wiggle waggle across the countryside, through neighborhoods, and swampy areas and farmland.

We spent the evening watching playoff football (Tim) and reading (me).