Our highlights, having escaped without the kids:
SEE manatees at Three Sisters Springs – November to March every year, manatee sanctuaries are in effect limiting swimming and boat access to provide peace and safety to hundreds of manatees that arrive to Crystal river each year
WALK and explore Clearwater Beach Walk, a pedestrian only promenade with hotels, shops, cafes and bars. Animated area with lots of street entertainers, kids playgrounds – great for people watching! I realise the beach is supposed to be one of the best in the US, it didn’t really strike us as such. Still a nice, wide, pearly white sandy beach!
EAT too much
Breakfast at Another broken egg café good balance of healthy options, sunny tables outside
Fish tacos at Clearwater beach – Pearly’s beach eats: nice stop for a tacos snack with interesting drinks options (low calorie vodka cocktails, craft beers and soft drinks)
Seafood Salty crab North beach – get seats at the outside bar rail and enjoy the WOW people watching opportunity and the hustle and bustle along Mandalay Avenue
Oyster Bar at the Boat House – we loved the oysters and the fish, lobster roll was nice, but the real highlights were the oysters on the half shell (yummy London gin cocktail sauce and cucumber mignonette!) and the coriander seared tuna with ‘blistered’ 🙂 shishito peppers, soy lime vinaigrette, wasabi mayo and sriracha
Seafood seller, Crystal River: number 2 favourite, uninspiring on the outside, just a parking lot neighbourhood restaurant. Once you’re in, a real and honest southern traditional cuisine spot! We only stopped for a bite (and I am glad we did!), couple of snacks and a glass of wine (nice house no fuss Chardonnay!) Loved the gator bites (first time I tried alligator meat and it was awesome: fried nuggets marinated in cajun), blackened scallops and starring at our neighbours’ plates. Family owned New Orleans themed with Cajun-style seafood and beer.
Least favourite: Crumps landing Homosassa, nice atmosphere by the lake with live music and deckchairs on a sandy beach, good to watch the pelicans fighting for fish, but food and drinks were average. Not our gig.
Most favourite: definitely the Boat house @ Disney Springs, we had to return before flying back to the UK!
- LEARN and see the real space shuttle Atlantis, touch a moon rock and meet Mars Rover, a prototype electric vehicle designed for traversing the landscape of Mars – visit Kennedy Space Center NASA’s primary launch center of human spaceflight!
TRY something new – alligator meat! I went for ‘gator bites’ without knowing what to expect and I loved the taste and the texture. Mild, subtle taste and very fluffy texture (at least the fits round I tried, second time round a little firmer).
You know it aaall! 