Up early again! After a good breakfast we drove to Crystal River Preserve State Park. We first went to the visitor centre to pick up some info, then drove back to Mullet Hole for a walk along one of the trails. Very peaceful and a quiet area. Saw 2 different woodpeckers and lots of pretty butterflies, also tiny frogs on the path. We'd forgotten to apply any insect repellent and started to get some mossie bites so decided to turn round. The trail wasn't well signposted so we weren't sure if we going the right way in the first place! Returned to the car admiringthe scenery.
Then visited the archaeology site to see the temple and burial mounds. Watched a video in the centre which gave us some background detail about them and looked at the artefacts recovered from them. We walked round the mounds and went to the top of one of them. Very interesting and worth visiting.
We returned to the visitor centre and booked tickets on the 1.30 boat trip along the river. This went past the mounds then turned round and went as far as the gulf. Holly a volunteer pointed out interesting sights, and it was a great idea to provide everyone with binoculars. We saw more birds, nests and islands in the river. The trip took about an hour and a half.
Went back to the hotel for a relaxing swim, then free cookies and coffee! We had a taco bell drive thru dinner which was actually better than I expected!
