After we left Little Manatee River park we headed north up the Gulf Coast towards another Encore park we booked with our Thousand Trails membership in Crystal River. The closer we got to the area the more we could feel we were escaping the regular tourist Florida trail and heading into territory more commonly visited by locals.
The park in Crystal River was good with a hot tub and pool that stayed open late which was nice. The downside was only one bathhouse for the entire park. On our second, full day there we loaded up our inflatable kayak on the motorcycle and headed the few short miles back into town where we were able to launch into Kings Bay home to many manatees, and as a result many manatee viewing tour groups. We were able to kayak on our own to one of the springs where the manatees hang out and follow the groups to observe them using our snorkel gear. Apparently this is the only place in Florida where it is legal to swim with the huge creatures.
In the afternoon we headed back to the motorhome for lunch, then made another short trip on the bike out to a nice little beach at the end of the peninsula, passing a massive nuclear power plant along the way. It was too cold and windy for swimming but it was a nice place to go for a walk on the beach before heading back to the campground for the evening.
The next day we departed and continued further North and then West, ending up in an area known as Apalachicola. The first night we stayed at an ‘RV Golf Resort’ where the fees included green fees for the adjacent golf course. Sandy is a regular golfer back home but Gareth hasn’t played a round in years. But it was a fun way to spend a morning; after 9 holes both of us had enough and opted to call it a game. We never did figure out who won…
After we packed up we headed to another RV park a few miles down the road to spend a couple more nights as a base to explore the area. It was fairly basic but did the trick, especially for the very inexpensive price. That afternoon we headed out on the bike to see a place nearby called Alligator Point. As we witnessed firsthand it had been hit fairly hard by last fall’s hurricane; large sections of the only road in and out were destroyed. We also stopped at the nearby Bald Point State Park where we saw hundreds of Horseshoe Crabs along the beach.
The next day we headed out early on the bike to do the ‘scenic Apalachicola loop’ which we’d read about. All in all it was a bit disappointing; the roads were mostly straight and boring and the scenery unchanging. But the Wakulla Springs State Park we visited near the end was nice, and a good place to grab lunch. Sadly all the boat tours were booked up so we didn’t get out on the water.
The next morning we packed up and headed further west along the Gulf. Our first stop of the morning was in a little historic cotton port called Apalachicola. We spent a few minutes looking around, grabbing a coffee and snack and doing some shopping before continuing on. As we got into the Mexico Beach area just east of Panama City we started to see the worst of the damage from last fall’s Hurricane Michael. Trees snapped in half all over the place, and many homes destroyed. There was plenty of rebuilding going on as well, which we found tough to comprehend given the almost complete certainty that another hurricane will hit sooner or later.
We had lunch next to the beach on the western end of Panama City which didn’t actually seem to be hit all that hard. From there we continued to our destination for the night, Henderson Beach State Park in Destin. We were pretty surprised how busy Destin was, the traffic was insane and there were strip malls and big box stores lining the highway. The State Park was a welcome reprieve from all of this, and the beach actually quite enjoyable for a walk which we did at length the following morning before departing.
Our next destination was Big Lagoon State Park just West of Pensacola, FL where we spent two nights. This was a nice quiet park, though quite far from town. We spent our full day trying to kayak in the bay without much success due to strong currents and low water levels, then taking a ride out along the coast into Alabama to visit a Fort on the mouth of the Mobile Bay first constructed during the American Revolution, and a key strategic point during the Civil War.
The next morning we took a ride into Pensacola for breakfast since we hadn’t really seen it on the way through before. It was OK, but we didn’t hang around for long. Then it was on to New Orleans for three nights!
