Headed to "swim with the manatees" in November. Taking a couple of my son's scouts and their moms on this trip. We'll be staying in our fifth wheel and would like to find a nice campground, convenient to local attractions and offering some on-site ammenities for the boys to enjoy. I've done the usual online campground directory searches and found 4 or 5 parks, but reviews run the gamut and I can never tell if some are "paid endorsements" while others are folks out with an axe to grind. Any sincere reviews and suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Probably the nicest one we stayed at in Crystal River was Rock Crusher Canyon RV Park. It was beautifully landscaped, nice sized sites, a great screened in pool with Jacuzzis, and it was within a few miles of town. I heard that it was recently purchased to be sold as individually owned sites, but that for now they are still being rented out. You may want to try them. Another one that was decent was Crystal Isles, owned by Encore. Just a couple of miles from the Gulf, and has a canal running through it that you can keep your boat in if you own one. It is a short drive, or a reasonable bike ride, to the beach and public fishing pier and boat launch. Both of these campgrounds are within a 15 minute drive, or less, of Kings Bay where the manatee spend their winters. You'll enjoy seeing them - very big, but extreemly gentle. Their biggest threat is the motorboats that keep running over them and cutting them up with the props, so you'll see some with nasty scars on them.
I would say Rock Crusher. Nice large sites and the right amount of trees. The Encore is ok if you have a boat but tight spots.
The biggest threat to Manatees is their small gene pool and natural causes. About 300 die every year with boats killing about 60 or so. The rest are cold stress, perinatal, natural causes, etc.
Big Katuna wrote: The biggest threat to Manatees is their small gene pool and natural causes. About 300 die every year with boats killing about 60 or so. The rest are cold stress, perinatal, natural causes, etc.
I know this is off the topic, but I don't think you can consider "natural causes" a threat. Everything that lives will eventually die of natural causes. My concerns are for those things, like a motorboat, that intercede first, and beat "natural causes" to the punch. I'm not anti-motorboat - I've owned them myself. I just would like to see people slow down and watch out when they're in an area populated by manatees, or other wildlife.
In any event, Crystal River is a beautiful area, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay there. They call it the Nature Coast for good reason.
We stayed at Natures Resort in Homosassa a couple of years ago. Nice CG right on the river. You can even rent a boat from their marina if you want. We really enjoyed the Crystal River/Homosassa area. While there, you may want to check out the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. You can't swim with the manatees there, but you can see some and learn a lot about them.
Chuck & Pam in NC
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Rock Crusher is now known as Elite resort at Crystal River. Rate it as the best we've looked at in the area. We'll probably be back there in February again.
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Elite Resorts Crystal River is the old Rock Crusher Canyon. We have not been there since the purchase by Elite resorts. We did sty there through the old entertainment and buffet days (they were really nice) and the "Good Sam" park era many times. They are very nice and roomy sites and the pool is caged. We would stay again. We did ride through the Encore and it has smaller sites but is on water.
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We stayed at Crystal Isles a couple of months ago. It was not great but nice enough. Drove a couple of miles and rented a pontoon boat for an afternoon, can't remember the name of the rental place. Saw lots of manatees. There were also lots of boats but in this case everyone was going very slow and was very careful plus they have restricted areas you cannot enter. Crystal Isles had a nice buffet breakfast while we were there and management was easy to get along with...good luck have a great time.
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