marco island to homosassa trip suggestions

[thirst4theworst]

Hello everyone. My name is Steve and I am new to scuba board, and this is my first real post. I am from broward county and both dive and freedive. My local spot is LBTS but I have dove from pompano down to looe key, and in the caribean. I have been reading posts on scuba board for a while and figured ," hey, why not join."

Now my question is on reccomendations of locations to either dive or snorkel, between marco island and homosassa. I am going on a roadtrip of sorts for about a week up the west coast and would love to stop at as many places on my way up as possible. I am bringing all of my gear so i can easily snorkel or dive, got my flag. The final destination is not set in stone so anywhere up that side of the state is cool.

I ask because this is not my neck of the woods and have just visited on occasion. I know nothing about that coast.

Any and all reccomendations are welcome. Thanks in advance. Adios.

 

[jimw]

I suggest visiting the state park in Homosassa. Interesting critters, a few years ago they had a Hippo! Lots of Florida animals and birds too. We stayed in the motel a few steps from the entrance. The only dive I've done in the area is at Crystal River--Kings Spring I think.

 

[sportxlh]

If you are interested in freshwater, Kings Cavern in the Crystal River is kind of interesting though I am not much of a cavern diver: I did the dive with a guide from American Pro. The rainbow river is an interesting dive.... sort of a bucket list dive. I'm glad I dove it and enjoyed the experience, but nothing I'd rush back to unless I was already in the area for other reasons. I think you have to dive Kings Cavern with an operator, but you can 'shore' dive the rainbow river if you rent a kayak and paddle upstream a bit and then drift back down towards the park.

 

[mjsylver]

I've done rainbow river, snorkeling with the manatees during the cooler months on the crystal river and then stopped and dove epcot at disney with my daughter and son when they were younger. We make the trip every couple of years and enjoy the heck out of it.