Manatees are one of our favorite animals to observe slowly moving about in the crystal clear waters of some of Floridas springs. Even though we had seen them numerous times around Florida, its usually been in murky brackish coastal water. We had never seen them in clear spring water. From Lady Lake, it was a short drive to Blue Spring.
Land O’Lakes is near the cities of Tampa, Clearwater, and St. Petersburg. We primarily stayed here to get our annual Freightliner service in Tampa. It was a short one hour drive from Tarpon Springs to Land O’Lakes.
Tarpon Springs is north of Tampa along Florida’s Gulf Coast. In the early 1800s, a visitor saw tarpon jumping out of the water and subsequently the city was named after the fish. Now, the area is known for its Greek community and sponge industry. Tarpon Springs has the highest percentage of Greek Americans compared to any other city in the United States.
Everglades City was a great location to explore the Big Cypress National Preserve. During our last visit to Big Cypress a few years ago, we stayed at the Outdoor Resorts of Chokoloskee, but we were evacuated because of flooding from storm surge. This time, we wanted to try something different and a little bit higher above the water.
Grassy Key is one of 1,700 islands in the Florida Keys. It’s in the middle keys, just northeast of Marathon. In the past, we stayed at Big Pine Key, which is southwest of Marathon, but at the time we made our reservations, they were still rebuilding the RV park from Hurricane Irma. It was a great location to explore the area, or just relax watching the water conditions change each day.
Key Largo was about a 3 hour drive south from Jupiter, Florida. We were looking forward to being in the Florida Keys again, even though they can be hot and humid in December.
