Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to read two reviews. Read Ariel W's and especially…read moreperuse her photos. As a five-year resident of this teeny tiny town, I'll add to hers and here are my additions- * The pavilions are a big draw as they have nice big canopies for shade and sturdy picnic tables. Each has its own trash bin a few feet away. That's nice but they are fly and hornet magnets! Just sayin- * Because of the adjacent playground, birthday parties are common. Expect a bunch of rug rats to be running around. * This is a no pets park except for service animals of course. There is minimal chance you will step in something horrendous with your bare feet. * It's nicely lit at night so it's a nice place to enjoy the cool of the evening. * If you enjoy alcohol, as long as you wrap your can, you know what I mean, nobody with bother you. * This is rural Florida and everyone with half a brain knows every lake has gators! The beach is nice and if you swim during the day the chances of even seeing one is minuscule! If you decide to take a swim at night with an open wound, well, you didn't really need four appendages, did you?

Donaldson Park is located on East Main Street close to downtown. There are shady oaks, picnic…read morepavilions with tables, and a playground. During my visit there was birthday party in one of the pavilions. Donaldson Park sits on the shores of Lake Verona and there is a beach for swimming. I have always heard that if you swim in lakes in Florida you can get the brain eating Naegleria fowleri amoeba. When water gets up your nose it travels to your brain which is almost always fatal. There have been 37 reported cases in Florida since 1962. Peak times to get it are July through September. I am not sure if they test the water here or if people are just careful not to submerge their heads in the water. Although I grew up swimming in lakes in New Jersey, this is the first time I have seen a swimming beach on a Florida lake. Also noteworthy is the dinosaur skeleton on the beach. It features heavily in promotional pictures for Avon Park. The park is used by the City of Avon Park for events like the Blueberry Festival and Christmas in the Park. The beach looked inviting but I am just not sure how safe it is to swim here.

Large lake that has clearly been set up for scuba training. There is a large parking lot and a…read morelarge concrete pad with many picnic tables that classes can use to set up gear, brief their dives, etc. The path from the pad to the lake has been cleared and is easy to traverse in full gear. They recently put up "sails" over the picnic tables to keep most of the sun off, which is really helpful. Every time I go, I can see some new improvement to the facilities. The lake itself is laid out with many lines and markers to facilitate underwater navigation. They have set up some "fun" things to see, such as mounting bicycles or creating a "gnome garden," sinking a boat with skeletons on board, etc. There are platforms that can be used for skills. The lake is good for Open Water and for Advanced classes. The bottom is fairly silty and it's easy to kick up a "storm" of silt and screw up visibility. The viz is between 10 and 20 feet (on a good day), and mostly greenish, so make sure you're sticking together. There are two port-a-potties and a small changing room...and that's it. Bring lots of water and snacks in a cooler. Waivers and reservations are done online. If you're a scuba instructor, register with the management of the lake (free) to get an instructor ID number. Use that number when you make reservations for your classes. Instructors are free, students pay $20 plus $1.20 in tax. Well worth it. When I have the time and students are willing to make the drive (it's 2 hours from my home and scuba shop), I prefer to do training here because I can take my time and not worry about the tides at Blue Heron Bridge.

So, sue me! My teeny tiny town Of Avon Park in Central Florida is lousy with lakes. You can't throw…read morea stick without hitting a lake. Of course, the stick would clunk a gator on the snout first! I finally got around to visiting this particular lake. Do your homework- If you are not from the area and looking for a place to swim & picnic, this isn't it! This lake has a lot of private homes surrounding it, but it has a big reputation for SCUBA divers. There is a divers parking lot with a few picnic tables where they lay out their gear. Local organizations hold diving classes here. There is also an adjacent boat ramp, but there is NO public swimming! Pro Tip- If you are traveling with little munchkins and looking for swimming & picnicking, I recommend Donaldson Park in downtown Avon Park. It's just minutes away. Nice beach. Divers love this place because the water is so clear and it's up to 50ft deep. If SCUBA is your thing, this is a four star stop.

We made reservations...got a site. 37' fifth wheel, 22' Dually…read more Showed up, was shown to our site. Even our escort told us that he didn't think we would fit. No way! Escorted us back to the office. The attendant offered a second site...no better than the first! Absolutely no room to turn to back in. Went back to the office and the woman asked for our credit card so she could return our deposit! That's it!!! It's early February in Florida!! She wished us well! I will say that several residents stopped by our rig to say that they felt badly about our situation. They said they've seen it happen before. Staff does not take into consideration that your entire (rig & truck) are 55' long! So just be warned that you really need to be careful. Park looked just fine, residents were quite friendly! Off to try to find a new location...wish us luck!!

A friend and I took her new motorhome on a trip down south and decided to stop on the way back at a…read morecampground so she could get use to setting up all the hookups while she had someone there to help her. We did not make a reservation so we started calling as we were driving. It was Easter Sunday so we were hoping for an opening somewhere. The first place I called told me to call when I got closer and they would meet me to get in, got there, no answer, second place on list was not on the road we were on but recommended Lake Grenada as we weren't happy everything to stay at were mobile home parks. We were so happy this was the place we stayed at, told them our first time, Sonny met us at the entrance, we followed him to the site. He showed us how to hook everything up. It was a cute place, view of a lake, very clean, pretty pool. Next morning Sonny came by to make sure we were ok and helped us unhook everything. We wanted to check air in the tires so he let us check right there. This was first trip before going cross country and if every place is like this place she will have a wonderful adventure.

This is a hidden gem for events. The location is convenient with plenty of parking. It's across…read morefrom a lake that provides a great opportunity for pictures. The grounds are clean and well maintained. I am not sure of the rental price, however, I'm sure it's worth the cost. The building is a nice size. The spacious floor plan creates an opportunity for several options. There are plenty of tables and chairs. There is a large kitchen for cooking. There is also a buffet window for easy serving. This is a definite consideration for events.

We went on this boat, the boat tour guide guy was great, and friendly.. had a great time on the…read moretour.. hope to come back soon..

We did a two-hour sunset cruise on the Chain of Lakes in Winter Haven yesterday, and it was…read moreabsolutely wonderful. The scenery alone was worth it, but what really made the experience special was Captain Sage. Her knowledge of the lakes, the area, and the wildlife was incredible, and the way she shared it made everything feel relaxed and engaging, not scripted or rushed. She has a great presence and genuinely loves what she does, which made the whole cruise even more enjoyable. I will ask for Captain Sage every single time and will definitely be back. Highly recommend this experience, especially at sunset.

Do you like where you live? Do all the things that make up "your city" match up with your needs? If…read moreyou are honest, probably not everything but Avon Park is close enough for me and I'm content! I've retired here for five years now but visited many times for decades before that as my parents retired here. It's safe to say I know the city very well. It's a teeny tiny place with a population of around 10-12,000. It's in agricultural Highlands County so it's off the beaten track. If you stick a thumbtack in the middle of the state, you might hit my condo! Orlando is 70 miles North and Tampa is 75 miles West. Head East 80 miles to Vero Beach. I live in a beautiful condo on a lake with exceptionally low taxes and extremely low cost of living. There really isn't a rush hour here. The medical community caters to retirees and I'm fine with that. Do I have 1000 restaurants like Orlando? Nope but I have enough to get by. I have all the retail I need with two Publix within striking distance. Amazon ships most of my stuff in one day! On any given day I could stop off at my Cheers bar, you know the one where everyone knows your name, and then grab some authentic Mexican food from any one of a dozen places. It doesn't get much better than that!

I had a problem and Danielle took care of it for me that afternoon! Thank-you so much for helping…read moreme.

My husband and I recently booked the Manatees and Monkeys tour at Silver Springs State Park with…read moreEpic Paddle Adventures through Viator. Our guides were Stevie and Ben. The meet-up instructions weren't extremely clear, but I was able to use context clues, such as the clear kayaks and a small sign with the business name on the side of a plastic tote, to figure out which group we were with. The guides weren't dressed in any specific colors or anything. As far as I know, we were the first to check in, but somehow we were close to last when being set up in a kayak. We weren't told about or offered dry bags either. I saw others with them, asked, and had to run back and grab a couple while we were lined up to launch. Another group asked us to grab some for them as well. Stevie provided us with a brief paddling tutorial prior to our departure being that we were the only ones in our group to have never been kayaking previously. Ben made sure our seats were set up properly and secured for the ride and assisted me with fashioning my life vest into a cushion for my bottom. After the tour, everyone was complaining about their bums hurting, but I was just fine! As paddling novices, we stayed at the rear of the pack for most of the tour and missed out on all of the informative bits and bites provided by Stevie, but the springs were relaxing, beautiful and teeming with wildlife! It would've been nice if we could've been positioned at the front of the group, being one of the first to launch since we did arrive first and we were beginners. Just a thought for future tours. The manatees were majestic! Go for the manatee. I was worried that we wouldn't see any, but that was no issue. The water is crystal clear and the manatee are present. They're calm and they come right alongside and beneath the kayaks. It was amazing. Our guides got us back to dock safe and sound and that's all I really cared about. Pictures were taken throughout and a QR code to view them was provided. Later that day, they weren't there, despite tours that happened after ours being online. During the tour, we were told that we didn't need to take pics because they'd take plenty. In fact, most of us had our things in dry bags for safety. We really wanted those pictures. I called the office and spoke to a woman who said she'd speak to whomever uploads them and if they weren't there by the end of the day to call her back. They were eventually uploaded and I was stoked to see the underwater video of the manatee! I'm happy I took pictures of my husband and I because those candid shots of us struggling to paddle are only suitable for comic relief purposes. Speaking of which, some of the guides' jokes and anecdotes weren't funny and were borderline offensive. I tried to let them roll off my back, but it is partially the reason for the lower rating.

I saw the picture that showed one of their other locations so I was disappointed with this paddling…read moretrip. It wasn't very epic and would hardly count as an adventure. The person who helped us was friendly and the prices were reasonable. We had a good time. The scenery was OK.

This was our second trip with these brothers. There were 3 of us and we had a great time. Fished…read morefor hours. They are very flexible on the time you are fishing. They supply everything you need. They set us up quickly to fish. We caught about 10 different species of fish at the reef and they got them ready for us to bring them home and cook them. The boat has a small bathroom and an area inside to eat lunch or to get out of the sun. The last day we went it was beautiful weather but rough seas (4-6 feet) so check weather before you go or make sure you have strong legs and a bite of Bonine and ginger. We highly recommend this trip. Fairly easy parking at marina or get dropped off. A memorable trip. Book it NOW!

From the owner: At Sebring Fishing Charters we are dedicated to providing our customers with a the best freshwater…read morefishing experiences in Florida. Captain Ariel has over 15 years of fishing experience and a passion for being on the water. Whether you're a seasoned fisherman or simply looking to learn, Sebring Fishing Charters has something for everyone. We are located near Sebrings Lake Jackson making it easy for you to join us on the water. We are friendly and knowledgeable, always available to answer any questions or concerns you may have to ensure that your time on the water is unforgettable. Book your next experience with Sebring Fishing Charters by calling or texting us at 754-201-8608. Tight lines!

Even though I didn't end up purchasing a boat here, I want to highlight the exceptional service I…read morereceived from SHELDON. After my initial inquiry, Sheldon stayed in touch via text and remained incredibly professional. Even after I told him I was looking at other brands, he continued to search for options that might fit my needs and followed up regularly without ever being pushy. Out of over 30 dealers I contacted, Sheldon at Boaters World was easily the most hard-working and professional. I truly appreciate the effort.

Boaters world in lake placid has major management, communication, problems…read moreand will hardly ever return call. No one at boaters world can answer any question and will say they will check with management and get back to you. Never happens! Very unprofessional in all areas and most employees have only been there a couple of months including management. Stay clear of boaters world, lake placid, Fl. because you most likely will have an extremely bad experience. They have damaged my boat, and given me the run a round to the point I'm seeking legal help to get my boat damaged by them fixed!