Day 7 - Weeki Wachee - Or Not

House was cleaned and car was packed by 9:30am. We hit the road and were excited about getting to Weeki Wachee. The springs were only 30 minutes from Crystal River, so it would make for a nice short ride. Before we knew it, we hit the city outskirts and then saw the park sign. I read the sign and it said once the park hit capacity it would not accept any more patrons. It was about 10:10am when I read the sign and we debated about having breakfast first. 

We opted to eat at Perkins not thinking the park would fill up quickly. Just before the food came out I pulled up the park site on my phone to show the kids the website. Alert – The park is no longer accepting patrons for July 21^st. Wow – I thought! We did not plan this right. Oh well – on to Tampa.

On the way to Tampa, we called Aunt Donna and told her we were on our way. We changed plans to go to the Florida Aquarium, but decided to go by Donna’s first. Needless to say, she was very happy to see us. Anna and kids had not been down to see her for a couple of years now.

After a little chatter and a few hugs, we got back in the car and head to the aquarium. What a great place. Saw lots of aquatic life I had not seen before. The aquarium wasn't to large so we finished walking through it in about 2 hours. Went to Tampa Bay Outfitters afterwards and picked up some new Keens for Thomas. Then back to Aunt Donna's. 

Day 6 – Triple Sister Springs

Mama and I got up early and started packing today. The plan was to get most of the non-essentials into the car and prepack as much as possible. We still had to do laundry and clear the kitchen, but decided to go eat breakfast first at a place called “Grannies Country Cookin”. Olivia had asked to eat there several times, so what better time to go eat then right before we leave Crystal Springs.

Grannies hit the spot! True country cooking! While we were eating, we started discussing our plans for the next several days. The question was asked, “What is today’s date?” Anna responded, “Today’s the 20^th”. “What? The 20^th? We have the rental until the 21^st. Are you sure it’s the 20^th”, I asked. Yup – the 20^th. Looked like we had a free surprise day left at Crystal River.

Relaxed and knowing we didn’t need to go anywhere, we decided to kayak to Triple Sisters Springs. It is located in the Crystal River Nature Sanctuary. You have to either kayak, boat or swim to the springs. No way to get there via car. As you may guess, there are three springs located in the park. There were a lot of people and water crafts by the springs. We could not have prayed for better weather. It took about 30 minutes to kayak out to them and twice as long to get back. 

When we were finishing up, the kids were in the kayaks heading out of the park. Anna was still swimming and I waited to help her into her kayak. When we got out of the park, we looked for the kids – no show. Anna and I decided to paddle back, but half way through when we hit King’ Bay, I did not see the kids anywhere in the distance. I headed back to the springs to double check and Anna ended heading to the rental. She called a little later telling me the kids were home safe. Beatings took place upon my arrival – okay no beatings.

Needless to say, we were all a little tired from kayaking, so we took it easy. I fished off the dock a bit and we caught a Jack along with a handful of catfish. The kids lounged and took turns inside and outside playing around.

Anna and I headed out to eat later in the evening to a little gem restaurant called Sellers Seafood. Anna had frog legs and we both had Cedar Key long neck clams, bacon oysters and a seafood gumbo. We grabbed a couple of Key Lime Cheesecake slices for the kids. Definitely hitting this place tomorrow for lunch before we head out on the road.

Got back and hit the bay for one last night fishing trip. Beautiful sunset!!!

Day 5 - Sea Scallops

The alarm went off at 6am this morning. Today was to be a morning of sea scallop hunting. Anna reserved a boat for us a couple of days ago with Captain Paul. We launched from Pete’s Pier which is only two miles away from our rental. Talk about convenient! Coffee, googles, snorkels, towels and snacks and off we went. Paul was meeting us to take off around 7:30am. Perfect time because it is still nice and cool, plus the boat traffic is not as much that time of day.

After some introductions and stowing of our belongings, we were on our way. We cut straight through King’s Bay down the Crystal River over to the Salt River and then to the Gulf. It didn’t take but about twenty minutes and we were out in the grasses. The water was flat and there were no boats in sight. On with our masks and snorkels – sea scalloping we went!

Where we were snorkeling was only about six feet deep. Even though that seems shallow, with the grasses it made it difficult to see the scallops at first. It is amazing how they blend into their surroundings. Once you get your eyes focused and start realizing what to look for it does get easier.

We made several stops and collected scallops along the way. Olivia found a gorgeous conch. We saw all kinds of fish, stone crabs, a starfish and countless of other aquatic sea-life. After our first stop when we finally decided to pop our heads up and move to the next stop, out of nowhere there must have been 50+ boats around us. I was stunned, because I truly didn’t hear them approach. Paul said that the weekend before when the season opened, in the same area Florida Wildlife counted over 9,200 boats – unbelievable!!!

We couldn’t wait to get home to clean the scallops and start the Mauwfest! Everyone pitched in and it didn’t take too long. After cleaning a couple you get the hang of it. Olivia and Thomas used spoons which worked pretty well. I used a scallop knife – pretty much a butter knife.

Add some penne pasta, throw in some scallops and lunch was served. Anna also threw a Jack we caught on the skillet and had it for appetizers. Maybe it was because we caught, cleaned and prep it, but this was an awesome lunch! Ready to do this again!

 

Thomas and I ended up going out on the kayaks for a bit and the girls went to the antique shop/flea market. When the girls got back Thomas came in and laid down. He didn't wake up again for the rest of the evening. I went out one last time out on the kayak around 5pm to see if I could grab a hold of a red, snook or a large snapper. Catfish was all I got though. One pulled me on my kayak for some time before I brought him into the kayak to release the hook.

Everyone laid back for the remainder of the evening. The sun took it out of everyone today.

Day 4 - What? Day 4 already?

The house was quiet this morning until around 8am. One can get use to this vacation thing! Anna and I headed out while the kids slept in to a place called Fort Island State Park. It was located on the point protruding into the bay. It had a beautiful beach area, pier and boat launch area.

When you enter the park it has the beach area to the left side with the marsh facing the right. Next, about 50 yards further it had a nature walk area which lead to the pier again on the left side. Lastly, the end dumps into a boat launch area. At the boat launch it had circular round drive and as we drove around we noticed a Land Rover off in the marsh. Not what I thought I would have seen and it did not look like he was suppose to be there. Upon further inspection, the guy was STUCK. I mean STUCK! I was still three hours until high tide and it did not look good for this guy. I wish I would have taken a picture of the car.

When Anna and I got back to the place, I threw out some bait on the Kistler rod and a few minutes later it hit. We were all sitting up near the pool when the pole hit. We thought it would be a cat fish, but then as the fish turned in the water it shined wide. Oh yeah, this bad boy was a jack - Nice size too! We reeled him in and Thomas was quick to filet him for some grub later.

Anna and kids headed out for a bit and hit some of the local shops while I headed out on the kayak.  Thomas and I ended up finishing up the day with fishing out in the bay and catching several more gar and catfish. It is amazing the strength these gar have. They definitely make for a fun fish fight.

Day 3 - Fishing the River

The plan was to go right away to Ed’s Bait & Tackle at 5:30am. I, however, woke up a little after 7am. Sun-rays were beaming and shining bright when I got in the car ten minutes later to get some shrimp. When I arrived at Ed’s, I grabbed the bait cooler and headed to the door. Before I could even got in the door, Ed stood in the doorway shaking his head – “No reason to bring that in son. I ain’t got no shrimp today. Ain’t had any for three days.”

Off to the next shop, only to have the same problem. The weekend apparently took out the whole shrimp inventory across Crystal River. I was bound and determined though and was able to get some a little later in the morning.

It was definitely a day of fishing. Can I just say we killed it on the water? In the middle of the bay there are a handful of gar that kept breaking the water surface. I initially thought they were catfish but the way they broke the surface looked more like tarpon. LT and I decided to go discover. We hooked on a bunch and reeled in quite a many. Beautiful looking fish! We stuck to the Gar for several hours using small perch as bait.

It was primarily nice and calm most of the day, except for a few times when some storms pushed through. At one point, half the bay was clear and the other under dark thick clouds. It was a very impressive site. Thomas and I stayed in the kayaks most of the day and tooled around the bay. There are parts of the bay that are wildlife sanctuaries, so the birds and other animals are everywhere. This is a true jewel of Florida!

Olivia and Anna hit the local Goodwill in the early afternoon and found quite a bit of loot. Olivia purchased a couple of shirts, got Thomas a bathing suit and Anna got a pair binoculars.

Anna made some delicious chicken dinner. We literally wolfed it down. A day of kayaking and fishing will do that to the Schiffers’ men. 

After dinner, Anna ended up kayaking with us for a bit and then we pretty much headed in for the night. The kids and I ended up watching “Taken”. Great flick!

Day 2 - Homosassas Springs

Waking up in sunny Florida this morning. Got the kids up early so we could get rolling and hit the park before 8:30. We packed the bags, grabbed some non-delicious bland continental breakfast and anyway to Triple Sisters Springs we went.

Excited, we rolled up to the park entrance but were told vehicles were not allowed in the park. Turns out you can only get to the park via the water. This was going to be somewhat of a problem since we didn’t have a boat. No boat – no problem. We ended up heading over to Hunter Springs Park instead for a couple hours and played in the water.

Being that the continental didn’t do much for all of us this morning, we headed out for lunch around 11:30 to a place called Charlies. Nice quaint place with outside seating on the river. We watched several large Tarpon annihilate bait fish while we waited for our lunch. Escargot, Mullet Smoked Dip and Caesar salads was the choice of this clan.

Hoping we could check in early, we stopped by the rental only to find they still needed a couple of hours to clean the place. So, off we went to Homosassa Springs State Park. It starts with a 10 minute boat ride to the park’s zoo entrance. What a gorgeous park! The surroundings and layout of the exhibits were almost invisible due to the natural rainforest/swamp location. They did a great job in keeping the caging and fencing to a minimum, not only for the patrons but primarily for the animals.

About an hour into the zoo, it started to rain. No – pour! And pour! Luckily we didn’t melt. We still managed to walk around and took shelter in some the covers and buildings they had throughout the park. It wasn’t much longer before we got back to the park entrance and took the tram back to the car.

It was around 3:45pm and we were all excited about getting to the rental. The kids helped unpack the car and it didn’t take another five minutes until we had fishing line in the water. I made sure mama didn’t need any help with anything before Thomas and I went out on the kayaks for a little fishing excursion. No big score out in the kayaks, but we did manage to catch quite a bit of catfish and snapper when we got back to the house.

The kids played in the pool for several hours and the eyelids started closing about 9:30pm.

Day 1 - On our way to Crystal River

Today we left with a broken heart. Still confused, horribly saddened and in disbelief that my mom had pasted. I had an internal strife battling to stay or go on vacation. I felt comfort thinking mom would want us to go. So I’m told myself.

We left Charlotte around 8:15am and took the usual trip down I-95. The kids fell back to sleep not but 30 minutes down the road. Anna and I took turns driving with little excitement until we got down near Crystal River. Can we say – Laid Back! This is definitely a vacation town.

We were all happy to finally arrive. Checked in, took a breather and then hit Crackers for dinner. Food was pretty good. When we left the restaurant Anna notice an unusual cop car. I had to do a double take. Take a really close look - half of the car is painting as a cop car and the back half as a taxi cab. Pretty cool and definitely had to take a picture.

Not much left to the evening but a little rest and off to Neverland.