Great place for a hike but make sure you take your water with you because it is a seven mile walk…read more Established as an aquatic preserve to protect the sensitive estuaries between Crystal River, a spring fed major river frequented by manatees, and the Gulf of Mexico, Crystal River Preserve state park spans 20 miles of the gulf coast between Yankeetown and Momasassa. The park is open from 8am to sunset daily. If your into walking this is a must see but don't forget the bug spray.

I have taken my dogs multiple times to the hiking trail that goes to the overlook. It's about 1.7…read moremiles round trip and we love it for a quick outing! I have seen quite a few gators out in the water and the dogs love the walking path. It's shaded in a lot of areas as well which is nice in the Florida sun.

They tore it down and are going to build another playground. Not sure when the new one will be…read morecompleted. It was our favorite playground around.

This park is closed. The gates are locked and there is a sign posted that it's closed due to safety…read moreconcerns.

Great team, captain ryan and Eli were a great duo very straight forward lots of information on the…read morearea. Super friendly staff and very good prices, as posted below this is a photo eli took on his go pro while out swimming with the sea cows a beautiful photo.

I think it's important to note that there's a good change you will only see one or potentially none…read moreat all. The crew was extremely nice, but for the money, I would have done something else. We went into the cove area and there was 1 manatee that other boats were waiting to see. After one group left, we swam up, saw it for about 5 min before it swam off. That was basically the extent of it. I swam to see one of the springs. But for $500 for a family of 5; I wish there we could have seen others or at least tried to go and see other ones. It also would have been helpful if we could have had an option to cancel if they had tours that didn't see any or really low exposure that day (or been able to reschedule for a colder day).

When I learned about the Mayan excavations in the area, and the possibility that the dugout/boat on…read moredisplay in the museum may be of Mayan origins, I knew that I would end up here eventually. Many years passed until I finally had the opportunity to visit. I was not disappointed. The location of this park is very urban, but once you enter the park you feel like you are in a magical land, with the river, the sun, the moon, the marshes greeting you. The pottery found looks strange to me, I see an extraterrestrial and a spaceship. One of the rock pillars also has a similar extraterrestrial face, and one of the hands in the pottery has tattoos on it. I don't know what happened here, but I "feel" something here, and I like it. This place feels like sacred ground. I hope that I can visit again and again.

Beautiful park, the rangers were very knowledgeable and helpful. It was a warm day, but the breeze…read morewas nice and they have a lot of places near the water to sit and relax. The top of mound was gorgeous.

While the park is nice, in different places on social media it mention that it's dog friendly but…read moreit is not signs saying no animals allowed. Crystal River is not the most dog friendly town. Not allowed at Ft Island, Kings Bay, or Hunters park to name a few. People travel a long ways to see the manatees and they bring their pets. What's funny is they have poop bags available at the entrances. If poop is the problem put a sign up that says $100 fine or more for not picking up after your pet.

Small beach but a nice place to take a dip! Very pretty area - birding area galore! Worth the trip…read more Again not a big beach but good enough!

Took multi generation family "to the beach" during a visit to Florida in April. Fort Island Trail…read moreBeach seemed like a good start for us and we enjoyed our visit. Arrived around 11 on a weekday and had a choice of parking spaces. Beach was recently smoothed, keeping in mind the area had suffered during a hurricane 6 months earlier, we found facilities were adequate. Row of porta-potties were available. Boat launch and fishing piers were still closed but we wanted beach that day. There are two rock breakwaters at the far edges of beach and several people were climbing and exploring while tide was out. Rocks were covered towards high tide. Line of markers indicated outer edge of swim area. No lifeguards (we knew that in advance) Plenty of room to set up towels, chairs and toys and room to next group. Kids were originally disappointed no crashing waves (they're use to Atlantic Ocean) but quickly decided the Gulf was better as they weren't getting knocked over. We brought our lunch: be aware, lots of birds trying (and some succeeding) to steal food.

Out on a motorcycle ride recently with some friends, decided to do the Ozello trail. One of the…read moreriders with us is a new rider and had never been down the Ozello trail, so we took it nice and slow. No need to see bikes go into the drink! At the end of the trail, there is a nice little park and boat ramp overlooking the water, and we stayed there for about an hour just breathing in the salt air and watching little hermit crabs crawl over the rocks. Good times. I can see that the place could easily handle a picnic or two, and it kind of bugs me that we didn't bring anything to picnic with except some drinks, but perhaps next time.

Good little ramp, plenty of parking. Watch the tides, especially in winter! Not bad for free…read more Excellent fishing waters. Great for kayaking too.