Homosassa Springs State Park Adventures — Attraction in Homosassa Springs

Homosassa Springs State Park, located about 2 hours north of Tampa on US-19, is well worth a visit! It really should be on your bucket list for Florida destinations. Althogh you can't swim there, you can take a boat ride from the visitors center just west of US-19 to the park entrance. Alternatively, you can take a tram ride instead of the boat or just walk or drive to the park entrance. The Tram and boats leave every 30 minutes and cost $2 per person, round trip. I highly recommend the liesurely boat ride since you will see some relatively natural Florida, and probably wildlife such as birds and maybe a gator or two, enhanced by descriptions of the area and it's history by your boat's Captain. Arriving at the park entrance, you pay a $13 per person entry fee unless you have a Florida State Parks pass. There's also a small cafe/burger joint there with a very good hamberger and sone of the best seasoned french fries I've ever tasted, all served to order and piping hot. Inside the park are walking trails meandering thru a sort of zoo with native animals that are being rehabilitated or unable to survive in the wild. Of particular note is Lui, a hippo over 60 years old who was originally brought there by private owners before the park was bought by the state. When the state announced their intent to rehome non-native animals to zoos elsewhere, there was a huge public outcry to keep Lui and he was granted a naturalized Florida citizenship so he would be a native. There is an underwater viewing station in the main spring that allows you to see many species of local fish. Currently there are plans to refurbish it since it's showing it's age. If you visit during the winter, you'll also see many manatee which swim up the spring run for the warm water (72 degrees F) for...

Today a pop up storm took place with thunder and lightning. There was almost no where to take shelter from the storms. The few shelters in the park were all closed from hurricane damage. As it was pouring rain, the “trams” were only coming every 20 minutes to take people to the parking lot which was a 20 minute walk anyway. The lady driving said only one tram could fit on a road at a time and that’s what was taking so long. One tram would drive people to the parking lot and back before the next tram would leave. The second tram finally made it to us -in a thunderstorm- WITH NO ROOF on top! The man driving this one said “as soon as you sit down we’ll leave” we sat for an addition 10 minutes in the rain waiting to go because 2 trams couldn’t be on the road at the same time! It was extremely unorganized and unprofessional. It was a terrible experience and took us an hour to get from the manatee viewing to our car! It could have been avoided with better planning and communication. There were signs posted that some animals may be off view due to weather but nothing that stated the underwater manatee observatory and many other buildings in the park were closed nor were we informed before we paid. Employees and volunteers said many times that this park was “not a zoo” but it was most definitely a seemingly run down zoo with small enclosures for almost all the animals including the...

5/26/25 Ya’ can’t have a good park without a good crew. What a lovely staff! Thanks for the ride, Lauren!

The park was discounted half because the underwater part is still hurricane damaged. However, we saw most every major animal today. Lou, a black bear, a mountain lion, a bobcat, bald eagles and a barn owl. That was as close as I’ve ever been to a bald eagle, (5-10ft) which was very cool.

But, visually picking up that mountain lion as it first started moving through high grass gave me chills. Like, serious from-the-base-of-my-spine, monkey brain, if-I-move-I’m-dead, chills. That was worth the price of admission, right there!

Today was subjectively better than some of the full-on zoos I’ve been.

There is a sand crane with a bad limp, along with their mate. It was good to see them still together. Literally flocks of birds. BIG birds. It’s a good/bad situation in that the hurricane caused many of the injuries that force them to live in care cages but it made for excellent viewing. All seemed well with the animals and we enjoyed...