Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

July 11th, 2008

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park – Homosassa, Florida


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If you've been following, you know that on November 11th we visited Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. This is definitely one of our favorite parks and we will almost certainly be going back. Once arriving at the visitor center off of US Highway 19, you are greeted with a huge lobby filled with alligators, a vacationing manatee complete with a "boca-raton" button down shirt, and a beautiful gift shop.  Lots for the whole family to see.  There is an art gallery with gorgeous paintings and photography all for sale.  We fully plan on going back and purchasing several pieces.

Once you have walked around and made a few purchases you can get on the list for the pontoon boat to take you over to the park.  This is included in your park admission.  It is about a 20 or 30 minute ride along the creek to the park.  There is so much to see along this little boat trip.  Wild life such as birds, gators, ducks, and turtles just to name a few.  The guide is very informative and can answer all of your questions as well as point out several places of interest along this trip.

You arrive at the park entrance and are instantly greeted by enthusiastic employee's who are more than happy to answer all questions, help you with opening doors or guiding you to where you want to go.  There is a great little restaurant there as well.  The gift shop was reasonably priced so we were able to get something for all the kids as well as a gorgeous stained glass wind chime for my kitchen!!

Now onto the park. WOW! I can not say enough good things about this park.  It was better than going to the zoo.  We weren't inside for 2 minutes and got to see dozens of gorgeous manatee's!! My son Austin was so excited!! His school mascot is a manatee so he was very proud!!

There were education centers all throughout the park.  Tons of park benches for your picnicking.  Manatee rehab center, lots and lots of wildlife exhibits!  We were all over that place and it was a blast!  For the little ones there is coloring and sand play and everything.  There is an underwater viewing area where you can see the manatee under water and HUGE schools of fish.  All we heard the entire time in there was... Ohhhhhh wow mommy!! It was super neat!

I am a people watcher so I was constantly paying close attention to peoples faces while there and the only thing I saw the entire time were smiles.  Happy families having a blast! Learning about the environment and about saving animals and about our wonderful state parks.  It was so neat to see all the kids so excited about all of that.

You get to take the same boat back to the main entrance, you can also just take the "trolley" as they call it, that is a truck pulling several seating cars.  We didn't take that at all, maybe one of us should have so we would report on things you see while on that trip.  We are all such water junkies that we took the boat trip back.  Once back at the main lodge, you can walk around some more or buy one of those amazing art pieces before heading home.

Make this trip, you will not be sorry!! It is definitely worth the drive from just about anywhere.  In the same area you can visit several other State Parks, just use our Park Locator to see what is close by.

For more photos from Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, please visit the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park Photo Gallery

Map of Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Activities available at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

Birding
Boat Tours
Concessions
Nature Trails
Picnicking
Visitor Center

Parks within 20 Miles of Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park

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