Crystal River Preserve State Park and Archaeological Park

I won't bother with dates as we saw these parks over a few days and the pictures are a collage of those visits. We arrived in Crystal River on December 19 and left on January 2.

We visited the Crystal River Preserve State Park several times during our time in the area. The Park is 27,000 acres and encompasses hardwood forests to salt marshes and Mangrove islands. Little has changed in the past 500 years since Europeans arrived in the area. It's nice to see pristine Florida wilderness even though human contact has carved roads and built buildings within its boundaries. Controlled development has preserved its unique natural environment.

These cute little guys were in the visitor center aquarium.

Crystal River is a busy boating waterway. Lots of birds and dolphins as well.

We took a boat trip down the Crystal River. A docent gave us many interesting facts as we traveled.

A Dolphin fishing in the river.

From the boat we saw a couple of dolphins fishing along the shore.

The dolphins herd a school of fish into shallow then slap their tale to stun them. They are easier to catch and eat.

These 'islands' are made up of shells.

The Gulf of Mexico. See the channel markers? The Gulf is very shallow here so boats must stay in the navigation channel.

The power plant. It is coal, nuclear and natural gas. Only the natural gas generators are active.

A crab boat checking his traps.

The grassy shore line is a nursery for small fish. The Crystal River is brackish. Fresh water mixing with salt water. Notice the different types of grasses on the shore. Sea grass and saw grass. Fresh and salt grasses growing together.

Fresh water flowing into the Crystal River.

Much of the Park is a rare spring-fed estuary. There are several fresh water rivers that are fed by hundreds of springs. Many of the springs are quite warm with water temperatures about 72 F year-round. Lots of the springs are very large and emit millions of gallons of fresh water daily. One of the benefactors of the warm springs are Manatees. Manatees live in salt or brackish water. In summer the Gulf of Mexico is warm but in winter the gulf cools down. Manatees must maintain their body temperature and live in water that is at least 68 F. Any cooler and they get hypothermic. The Manatees make their way up rivers like the Crystal River toward the warm fresh water springs. Knowing this. Tourists flock to the springs to watch the Manatees and for a few, swim with them.

The grey humps are Manatees. When the gulf is cool there are hundreds of Manatees that make their way into the small channels near the warm springs.

Lots of boats provide tourists with a way to get close to the Manatees.

Kayakers by the dozen

All these boats are vying for a good view of the Manatees. Snorkelers are in the water too.

What a zoo! See the people lined up (center of the frame) trying to view the Manatees?

Within the boundaries of the Crystal River Preserve lies the Crystal River Archaeological Park. There are a number of native American sites within the park but the most interesting are the mounds that were built by the early natives. This are was continuously occupied from 1000BC to 950AD. The mounds served several purposes. There were ceremonial mounds, burial mounds and midden mounds (garbage mounds). 

Mound 'A', or the Temple Mound is made up of millions of shells. It must have taken generations to build the mound this high

Nice view of the Crystal River from the top.

Burial mound.

These burial mounds are the same as those found further north in Ohio

Platform mound, likely used for ceremonies.

View from the river.

Beautiful view!

....and that was Our View From Here!