Heritage-Eco Boat Tour

We got up bright and early this morning so that we could be first in line to buy tickets for the 10:30 a.m. boat tour. We could have snoozed a few more minutes: as it turned out, we were the only people on the tour, except for the captain, the tour guide, and a Friends of the Park volunteer. We were surprised to find that they would run the hour and a half tour of the Crystal River and estuary for just two passengers.

We showed up at the park Visitor Center on the Crystal River at 9:15 a.m. Tickets went on sale at 9:30 a.m.  After we bought our tickets, we walked over to where the CRBB (Crystal River Boat Builders) were working on building a traditional scow, using mainly historically accurate techniques and materials. This is a long term project. The group works on the scow on Wednesday mornings, and they were very happy to show us around and tell us all about the project.

Just before 10:30 we prepared to board the Monroe, the tour boat for our Heritage-Eco Boat Tour:

The Heritage-Eco Boat Tour takes 26 passengers along on a river adventure on the vessel "Monroe" along the scenic Crystal River. Their tour "The Ancient River Dwellers" provides visitors with history about these Native Americans that built giant mounds to their gods. It explores the areas estuarine (fresh and salt water) ecosystem and how it provided for early man.

What a wonderful tour! The guide was Leroy Smith, a volunteer who had been the park ranger for the park for 12 years and lived with his family on an island in the estuary. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the estuary and its plants and animals were extensive. He pointed out birds and nests as we motored along. We were free to stand up and walk around to take photos.

Our guide described the mound building done by pre-Columbian Indians in the estuary. Some of the mounds were used for burial, some were ceremonial, and some were just accumulated debris which over time formed large middens. These middens form some of the many rocky outcroppings and islands in the estuary.

Captain Bob Beck even invited me to pilot the boat! (We were going very slow, fortunately, and he stood by to take over if anything untoward happened.)

Here we are with H.L. (Leroy) Smith, volunteer extraordinaire!

When we returned to the Visitor Center we took our picnic lunch to a small table under a tree by the water. This female anhinga was drying her feathers by the water. She was unconcerned about our presence and spent the entire time we were eating in the same place, meticulously preening her feathers, including that long, sleek tan colored neck (that's how you know she's a female).

After lunch we drove to the trailhead for the Eco Walk, a 2.2 mile loop trail. We started out with high hopes that were soon dashed. The mowed grass trail became muddy. Then we came to a place where it was flooded for a few feet, and we followed the lead of other hikers and made our way around in a short detour. 

Unfortunately, the flooding became too much to get around and too deep to walk through. We had wet socks and shoes, and there was no end in sight. Besides it was hot and humid in the afternoon sun. We turned around and decided to come back tomorrow to visit the archeological sites.

On the way home we got fuel and stopped at a big thrift store. I had fun checking out all the stuff, and I found an apple corer, just what I needed to make baked apples.