Everybody in Hernando County knows the drive south. Tampa is the default answer to “what is there to do,” and it costs you an hour each way plus parking.
Go the other direction and things get closer. Homosassa is up US-19. Crystal River is a few minutes past it. Tarpon Springs is south on the same road, but nothing like Tampa. These are the day trips that don’t require a whole Saturday of driving, and two of them are cheaper than a movie ticket.
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
Open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. $13 for anyone 13 and up, $5 for ages 6 to 12, free under 5.
The draw is the underwater observatory — a floating structure in the main spring that lets you walk below the surface and watch manatees and schools of fish at eye level, rather than looking down at them from a boardwalk. Manatee programs run daily at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the bleachers overlooking it.
There’s also a boat tour along Pepper Creek from the visitor center to the park’s west entrance — $5 for 13 and up, $4 for 6 to 12, plus tax. It’s transport as much as a tour.
Eat before you go
This is the part nobody tells you, and it will ruin an afternoon if you don’t know it. As of now, the Wildside Café is closed until further notice. The Gator Bites is closed until further notice. The Grill at Pepper Creek is open for catering only, with no daily lunch service. The West End Gift Shop is closed too.
What’s open is the Visitor Center Gift Shop, daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. So: eat in Homosassa or bring food. Do not drive up there with hungry kids assuming you’ll sort lunch on site.
Ticket counters close at 4:45 p.m. and the Wildlife Walk closes at 5, so a late-afternoon arrival gets you very little for $13.
Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge
Established in 1983, and the only refuge in the country created specifically to protect the Florida manatee. It covers Kings Bay, including Three Sisters Springs — which the refuge itself calls the last unspoiled and undeveloped spring habitat in the bay.
The refuge handles more than 400,000 visitors on the water a year, which tells you both how good it is and what you’re walking into on a busy day.
The timing thing nobody mentions in August
Peak manatee season runs November 15 through March 31. That’s when the refuge runs programs at Three Sisters Springs daily. From April 1 through November 14 — which is right now — programs are less frequent and the manatee numbers are nothing like winter.
Go in August for the water, the paddling and the springs themselves. Do not go in August expecting the photographs you’ve seen, because those were taken in January. Put Crystal River in the calendar for after Thanksgiving and it becomes a completely different trip.
When you do go, the rule is passive observation — no chasing, touching, cornering or riding. If you see an injured manatee, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission hotline is 1-888-404-3922.
Tarpon Springs and the sponge docks
South on US-19 rather than north, and the one on this list that is a town rather than a park.
The Greek community here isn’t a theme. In 1905 John Cocoris brought sponge divers over from Greece — first from Aegina and Hydra, then in greater numbers from the Dodecanese islands of Kalymnos, Symi and Halki. Tarpon Springs went on to have the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the United States, and Greek ancestry was still 8.3% of reported ancestries in the 2020 census, in a town of 25,117.
The industry was one of Florida’s leading maritime businesses until a red tide bloom in 1947 wiped out the sponge beds and pushed most of the fleet into shrimping. It partially recovered in the 1980s.
What’s left is a working waterfront with St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the Spongeorama museum, and the food — which is the actual reason most people from Hernando make the drive. If you can time a visit to January 6, the Epiphany celebration has boys aged 16 to 18 diving for a ceremonial cross, and it draws a crowd worth planning around.
How this stacks up against driving to Tampa
Two adults and two school-age kids at Homosassa Springs is $36 at the gate. The same four people at almost anything in Tampa is that before parking.
That’s not an argument against Tampa — there are things down there worth the drive, and we’ll keep covering them. It’s an argument for remembering that Hernando County sits between two directions, and most people only ever drive one of them.
Closer to home, there’s the mermaid show at Weeki Wachee, the river paddle, and whatever’s on this weekend.
Hours, fees and closures are taken from the parks’ own published information and can change. Confirm before you drive.