Chassahowitzka River Campground — Hotel in Homosassa Springs

Chassahowitzka river campground site 36 mid august 2021 Laid rock pad site close to bathrooms, laundry and closed club house. Power was interrupted about 11pm and came back on some hours later. Quiet. Lots of trees, but somehow open feeling. The mosquitos were plentiful but didn’t feast until 6:30pm on the nose. Camp sites aren’t private. Will get out on the water today. The spring river is brackish like burnt brass and the boat ramp area is a good place to put in paddle boards, kayaks etc. the store/office is stocked with random items and firewood. They rent kayaks and john boats. The spring is small but pretty. Paddling down river is nice. It was coolish on this mid august morning. It started heating up towards noon. Fish jumped for their food. There were remnants of scalloping season strewn on the river bed. There isn’t too much trash as springs go here in Florida. The bed of the river doesn’t have too much grass and has some sandy spots you can hang out at. Along the river you can find small shaded beaches among the variety of trees including palm and oak. The river isn’t busy on this day in comparison to other springs I’ve been too in the area. The motor boats aren’t particularly respectful of speed but the captains are always friendly and wave when passing. As we paddled down river we were passed respectfully by a group of young boys about my kids age (late teens). They were in 3 John boats and they greeted us “how’s it going?” To which I replied with a node. We caught up with them as they made land fall at a private shady sand beach. There was a stack of scrap wood taking up about a quarter of the area. They were all excited to be there. I assume they had been stockpiling the wood for a bonfire. We passed and proceeded down river for about 20 min weaving in and out of islands in the river. The water was really shallow at points, maybe a foot deep all the way across. Clear at these spots we could see the river bottom as though it were magnified, changing from a mossy grass to a shell like sand and to potted rock. Ever so often we’d come across an old felled tree and have to quickly change course before striking them with the fins of our paddle boards. On the way back up the river we hugged the other shore to get a new experience. The river is quite wide sometimes about 100 yards. I searched in vein for signs of scallops to put in our shrimp boil we had planned on cooking for lunch. We came across the boys on the beach again. They were starting a fire with a make shift grate over the top, I assume to cook up some Mullet fish they may have caught. I tried to take a discreet picture, but I heard them whispering “he’s taking a Pic” I decided to own it and yelled “smile!” “It’s truly Florida” I followed up. I think it was lost on them and they just thought I was super creepy. I truly appreciate the Florida lifestyle. It’s tough to describe. There are so many types of people and things to do, but at that moment seeing those boys with the John boats on a private river beach starting a bonfire was SO Florida. Our version of Huck Fin. We continued up the river and were back to the dock right around noon. My wife put together some shrimp boil packets that I cooked on the grille and we enjoyed eating them with home made sourdough she baked and a beer. We lazed around the rest of the day until about 5:30 when the rain came in and drove us into our camper for the evening. We tried to go out again around 8:30 but the bugs had gotten too bad. It was a beautiful...

We did not have a very good time and will not be coming park. The staff was rude and the river was not very clear as the pictures showed or I was told when reserving a spot. The Springs were very clear about 100 feet from the springs. The 7 sisters spring was very small, unremarkable, & packed with people. It could only fit about 6 people sitting around the hole. The crack was bigger & we had fun, but was also very busy. I wish zero stars was an option.

While unloading our kayaks from my truck in the unloading zone, I asked my wife to go reserve a parking spot. She asked him if we still needed to pay if we had a handicap parking pass the way almost every park in the country does. He gave her an attitude & told her everyone has to pay the $5, no exceptions. He placed a orange cone in the handicap parking space & she verified if it was ok for us to park there. He yelled at her saying put your car in here NOW. She explained we were still unloading and he said "just move the cone when you pull in" in a very demeaning way.

On sunday, after packing up, we were going to do more kayaking & swimming so we went to the shower house in the RV area. My wife & friend were about to enter the shower when a male & female staff member propped open the door to clean it (around noon which to us is a high traffic time to close a bathroom / shower. My Wife & friend asked them if they could wait just 2 minutes so they could go in to put on their swimming suits on. The staffers said that was fine. After they walked in the male staffer named PJ said "Rude motherf.....s" right in front of my other friend & another camper & his family. My friend asked him why he would say that to our ladies. PJ responded back to him saying "I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to her" pointing to the female staffer. My friend told me about what happened so I went out & confronted PJ over what he said. He got loud & verbally abusive towards me. He and I traded insults & he even threatened to get into a physical altercation with me. I asked the female staffer if what he said was acceptable behavior from the staff at the Cassahowitzka campground. She said she was staying out of it instead of agreeing with us that what PJ said was something he should be fired for. I know at my job I would be on the spot. I asked who was the camp manager manager was & he dared me to see what happens if I complain to her about his behavior. He just laughed at us as we walked away. We met with Liz at the camp store. She apologized for his behavior. We asked her to fire him and she said no, she can't do that. I than asked for a refund for our weekend stay since the staff was so rude. She refused that request as well. She did give us a free 2 night stay certificate but since we will NOT go back it was like spitting...

If you are coming here just to kayak or boat, and no thing else but sleep in your tent or camper, then you may enjoy your time here more than others.

This place packs people in less crazy than a koa but not as much space as you would have at a state park and some sites are worse than others.

It is a dog friendly park. We took ours and we saw several doggies there too. Some people took their pups in their boats and kayaks. There is a very small dog play area behind the bathrooms near the dumpsters.

You can rent kayaks here and canoes at the office. The staff were friendly and down to earth people.

The tent site has Port-o potties, the bathrooms in the rv section has locks with codes and the women's side is messed up. It waits until you've input the code so many times you are about to give up and at that final time the lock opens lol. The bathrooms were severely under maintained. Thankful for the full hookups and having a bathroom on our camper but not everyone has that luxury.

When you arrive, you are to head to the office, this is not on the campground site, it is down a road outside the campground, next to the water. It's a small walk but be prepared to maneuver your way around cars parked on the side of the road and cars coming in and out constantly, especially if you have kids or dogs.

The main point of coming here is to get to the 7 sisters springs which is only accessable by a boat or kayak. The spring has several mini caves and it looks like swiss cheese, you can go into and out of the holes too. Be careful as someone had died here getting stuck in the tunnels. The springs are powerful and have a current.

There are no hiking trails, no place to walk but around the campground. That may not be an issue for some, but could be for others.

There is a laundry facility which is indoors. It also rained horrible for a long time and it did not flood anywhere on our site.

There is a fenced in playground but it is meant for children under 5. Kids are left here unsupervised and have ruined all the fun for others. The playground was messed with daily.

There is a recreational place with shuffle board, a basket ball hoop, horseshoes, Cornhole and tetherball. However someone popped the basketball, someone broke some horshoes (must have been a strong kid), they took the stuffing out of half the bags for Cornhole, broke the sticks and pucks for shuffleboard too. The only really working thing was the tetherball and my kids spent a lot of time there as there wasn't much to to besides that and going around on their scooters. If you have kids, take outdoor games, bikes, scooters and or outdoor equipment to keep them busy.

A very different place but worth checking out once just for...