The Heart of Crystal RiverĪll of this is just steps away from Crystal River’s historic Downtown on North Citrus Avenue. This is seafood central in Crystal River with three waterfront restaurants serving seafood, often fresh off the boat from the two active commercial fishing operations on the waterfront. Nearby Kings Bay Park, also on the downtown waterfront, provides another public kayak launch, a pier for fishing and sweeping views of the Cedar Cove area of Kings Bay. This newly restored City Park features a sandy beach for swimmers, a kayak launch and a boardwalk for viewing manatees. The most accessible spring in Crystal River is at Hunter’s Springs Park on the shoreline near downtown. A visit to the Three Sisters Springs Boardwalk, or swimming with manatees in the spring on a manatee tour, is a must. This amazing crystal-clear spring in a wooded grove defies imagination and has become known internationally for the incredible number of manatees that gather here in winter. The most famous though, by far, is Three Sisters Springs, a place so remarkable it’s best described as a National Park in one acre. The biggest spring is King Spring on the southern tip of Banana Island. The springs here are epic and provide an incredible experience for meeting a manatee. In fact, it is so important to the survival of manatees that The Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge is the only Refuge in the United States dedicated to the preservation and protection of a single species It is a first magnitude Florida springs system and a leading winter refuge for the Florida Manatee. Kings Bay is fed by over seventy springs and as many as forty more seeps that feed 600 million gallons of freshwater a day into this incredible body of freshwater sitting only six miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It starts with the river for which the city is named and the natural wonder on which the city sits: Kings Bay. The mine is typically open seven days, from 9 a.m. They’ll stop in to collect the mining fee. So it’s a good idea to call ahead and let them know you’ll be there. It’s a pretty informal operation, and its owners are not always on-site. The lake is also stocked with bass, bluegill, catfish and tilapia for catch-and-release fishing. There’s already a swimming beach at the lake, so if you get too hot, you can take a dip. Ruck’s Pit is in the midst of a transformation and will eventually become a full-service campground. While there are shade pavilions, when you get the “crystal fever,” you’ll forget how long you’ve been standing in the sun. Wrap your finds before they go in your bucket.
Calcite is “soft” crystal and easily scratched.
CRYSTAL RIVER GEMS DRIVER
The driver is a valuable tool for carefully loosening the dirt and rock around your fragile finds. Bring a hammer, chisel, hoe and flathead screwdriver.The tiny, fossilized shells that make up the rock can have rough edges. Boots – or other shoes with ankle support – are a good idea.Wear comfortable clothes that you won’t mind getting dirty.On rare occasions, you’ll find one of these filled with tiny crystals. Other fossilized shellfish, like whelks and olive shells.Large, fossilized clams filled with calcite crystal.Some individual crystals can be over an inch long. Loose, gem-quality calcite crystals and crystal clusters.
A garden hoe will help move material and reveal what lies beneath. Use the provided hoses to loosen and wash rock and gravel from the sides of the hills.Walk over the piles, keeping a keen eye on the ground.Ruck’s Pit is the only known place in the world to find such fossils, which geologists estimate at over 1.5 million years old. But long ago, its owners discovered something special: fossilized clams the size of your hand, filled with honey-colored calcite crystals. Ruck’s Pit, in Fort Drum, is the site of a former mining operation for the fossilized shell rock commonly used in our state’s roadbeds. And if you’re lucky – which is pretty much a guarantee – you’ll be taking them home by the bucket-load. But get up close, catch the light just right, and you’ll see that they glitter with golden treasures. Tall, grayish rock piles, maybe 40 feet long, stand next to each other at the edge of a grassy field. From a distance, it doesn’t look like much.
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