Silver Springs Glass Bottom Boats

Fortunately we saved the best till list. Even though we were otherwise underwhelmed by Ocala the visit to Silver Springs State Park made the whole stop at Ocala worth it. Silver Springs and Cypress Gardens in the center of the state were major tourist attractions going back as far as the late 30's. Both folded in the Great Recession of 2008. The state of Florida took over Silver Springs and revived it but Cypress Gardens is gone forever. We took the 90 minute glass bottom boat tour at Silver Springs and it was worth every cent we paid. Picture of the entrance and boat we went on below. 

Entrance to Silver Springs

The Tour Boat

 We saw gobs of wildlife from the boat and took over 60 pictures of which 50 were keepers. I will only post the better ones here on this blog. Below will be pictures of roosting birds and a large turtle. 

Roosting Birds

A really big turtle

 Silver springs has a large population of Cormorants which is a diving bird the goes to considerable depths to catch fish in their beaks. They don't have oil glands so they must dry their feathers after each dive so they don't become waterlogged and sink. In Asia the native keep them as pet and use them to catch fish. They put a ring around their neck on the end of a long string so the bird can't swallow the fish. The drop the bird over the side of the boat and take the fish away from him when he surfaces. Every couple of dives they give him a fish to keep him motivated.  Picture of a Cormorant drying his feathers below.

Cormorant drying his feathers

 The next photo I will call a Logolopolus. It is a log on the riverbank that looks remarkably like prehistoric animal. 

Logolopolis

 No trip to Florida would be complete without a picture of a sunning Alligator. Gator below.

Sunning Alligator

Many years ago someone got the bright idea of bringing Rhesus Monkeys to Silver Springs. They put them on an island thinking they would remain captive there. No one told them that Rhesus Monkeys can swim quite well so now the are all over Florida. Pictures of Monkeys below. 

 An interesting bit of trivia I did not know was that Silver Springs was the location of a good many Hollywood movies. All the old Tarzan movies with Johnny Weismuller were filmed there as well as Sea Hunt with Lloyd Bridges and The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Jerry Lewis filmed a movie called Don't Give Up The Ship here. In any event Silver Springs was a 5 star stop even though it has fallen on hard times.