Tarpon Springs to Crystal River, Fl

Total Miles Traveled 2457

We left Tarpon Springs April 8^th and only traveled a few miles to anchor at Anclote Key.  The distance to Crystal River from this anchorage is over 70 miles so we wanted to get an early start crossing the Gulf without the delays of coming down the river from Tarpon Springs. 

After traveling an hour or so, there appeared to be a wall of fog on the horizon, we had to deal with fog when we came down in December.  It turned out to be smoke, maybe burning off sugar cane, we are about 5 miles from shore when I took these pictures.

Most of our cruise to Crystal River was about 10 miles off shore and I didn’t see more than 20 feet of water, most of it was 10-15 feet deep.

As we entered Crystal River we passed the Crystal River Generating Station.  The complex contains a single nuclear power plant, while sharing the site with four fossil fuel power plants. The nuclear facility is currently being decommissioned after operating 33 years until shutdown in 2009. 

After an hour journey up the river, we arrived at Pete’s Pier, catering more to the fishing community than cruisers.

Crystal River is at the heart of the Nature Coast of Florida.  The city is situated around Kings Bay, which is spring-fed and so keeps a constant 72 deg F temperature year round.  A cluster of 50 springs designated as a first-magnitude system feeds Kings Bay.  A first-magnitude system discharges 100 cubic feet or more of water per second, which equals about 64 million gallons of water per day.  Because of this discharge amount, the Crystal River Springs group is the second largest springs group in Florida.  Kings Bay can be home to over 400 Manatees during the winter when the water temperature in the Gulf of Mexico cools, and is the only place in the United States where people can legally interact with them in their natural conditions.

We spent the entire day putting around in the dinghy exploring Kings Bay and all of the canals surrounding the bay…..and we saw a few Manatees.

The ducks are not real; they are being used to mark a cable to keep boats out of a protected area.

My “Best Mate” on the lookout for wildlife.

Oooh, she spotted a dandy!

A great day in the life of dinghy owners, we purchased and installed a hydrofoil for our 6 hp outboard while at Tarpon Springs.  We had a chance to check it out for the first time today and it worked great!  Ninety five percent of our dinghy rides are at idle, exploring the areas we visit.  Sometimes we get a few miles away and it would be nice to get up and go!  Until now, when I gave it full throttle, the dinghy would just squat in the water and push water instead of getting up on plane.  The hydrofoil gave us just enough lift to make it happen.  Life is good : }