Crystal River Boatin'

Amber and I sometimes get delusional views about the way the world normally works.  Our normal day off will be on a Monday or Tuesday.  There is a very different scene when you go out on a Monday night verses a Saturday night like the rest of the world does.  For easy going people like us, however, Monday nights work just fine.  Try it sometime.

So we went out with some friends, Burt, Joey, and their son Harley, from work to Crystal River on a Saturday. We met them down there in the late morning and put their Polar flats boat in the water at Pete's Pier.  After a short mishap with a self bailing system on the back of the boat where we thought we would fill with water and sink, we idled south, went under King's Bay Drive and stopped right around the corner from the mouth of Magnolia Springs.  The water was shockingly cold compared to the blazing Florida sun but it did not take long to acclimate to the 72 degree water and enjoy floating around on my "safety noodle." Which I took with me every time I got in the water that day.  It was then that Amber and I really started to see how many people were out doing the same thing we were.  There were boats, kayaks, and stand up paddle boards (SUPs) everywhere.  And I mean everywhere. It was like traffic but on the water.  Anytime we take the Blue the sailboat or the jon boat out we are almost always the only people on the water. That's the difference between Monday and Saturday.  We clamored back in the boat and squeezed our way into traffic.  We spent a little time checking out some of the canals which is where our friends use to live and their son grew up.  We could see schools of darting mullet,  diving turtles, and a mother manatee with her baby sunning by the edge of the canal.   We then motored up to the "parking lot" at the entrance to Three Sister's Springs.

Not my picture but you get the point

Three Sister's is a group of three springs that is only accessible from the water.  There are walkways around the springs that are only accessible by land but you can't get from the walkways to the spring water.  Also the "parking lot" for boats at the entrance to the springs has large cement poles in the water to stop any traffic larger than a kayak, stand up paddle board, or swimmer from gaining access.  We caught a lucky break and coasted into a spot that was just abandoned by a fellow spring goer. Traffic was even more concentrate at this point with even more people swimming than in vehicles.  People had there boats anchored all along the edge of the water and were bailing out to swim to the mouth of the spring.  We had a few bites to eat and chatted with or boat neighbor before we all jumped out and followed suit with the rest of the crowd.  We had to merge in with swim traffic and inch our way against the current up to the spring.  It was a very surreal experience being among 50 other people enjoying the cool spring water and warm sun while floating above one of nature's beautiful and mysterious wonders.  We snorkeled above each of the three springs until we reached the point where the chill of the water outweighed the fun. We kicked lazily back to the boat and clamored back into the boat.

At this point we were all starting to get a little hungry so we decided to motor down to The Plantation.  On the way we ran through 10 or so sailboat hooked to mooring balls, most of them for sale. Joey whipped us in next to the ones for sale so that Amber and I could check them out and dream.  We decided since this trip that we are going to go back in our sailboat soon and get some numbers from the boats and make some calls.  We would probably find a better deal on a boat there than online.


We continued down to The Plantation and docked
in the canal.  They have a great bar by the pool and canal that us guys lounged at while the girls relaxed in the pool.  We had a few drinks and a very decent crab cake before hoping back in the boat.

We hit a couple more spots along King's Bay including a roped off swimming area above a spring at Banana Island but the water was too dark to see anything. Also Twin Rivers Marina about halfway up to channel to the gulf to see some of their friend's boats docked there.

At this point It was getting late. We were all pretty worn out and ready to eat and call it a day.  We loaded up the boat and drove down to The Freezer in Homosassa.  We had an amazing meal of delicious snow crab legs, some of the freshest shrimp you can get, and probably the best clam chowder in a bread bowl I have ever had.  It was the perfect way to end the day