I found out what was wrong with that picture. Manatee Heaven

The Crystal Rive/Homosassa area is home for one of the largest herds of manatees in Florida. 650 plus at last count and the herds have begun to move inland and so have the tourists who come to snorkel and view them. 10,000 plus expected on Saturday for the Manatee Festival. We're leaving town on Saturday, bound for the tropical paradise of Rotonda West just south of Englewood, Florida.

But first some of the condos that we had viewed on Zillow. Condos and Manufactured Homes. Prices varied from 125K to 9,500. So why the big difference. A. Location. B. Land. All of the Manufactured Homes which were mostly very nice double wides with 2 or 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms were on rented land. Think timeshares. We didn't really look at any of them other than to do a drive by and were surprised at the upkeep of the areas. The problem is that leased land thing. Scratch them off the list.

Then we headed out for the Islands at Dixie Shores Development on Dixie Bay. Four or five months ago these condos were the first ones in Crystal River that I found when researching Florida on Zillow. Mostly 2 bedrooms/2 baths and around 1500 sq. ft all with waterfront access..The whole development, now completed, is surrounded by nature preserve that won't be developed. It's about 2 miles from the only "beach" in Crystal River and has some strict rental covenants that don't appeal to me.

The first one was listed at 84K and currently rented long term to a woman and child. It was immaculately kept. Here's some pics.

First the view outside, You can crab and fish right here.

The "Florida" room

Living Room Kitchen Dining area.

Front entrance

Very nice and affordable. Will probably sell this year.

Looked at another for 125K. Only differences, a dock, a Southwesterly view and a couple of walls that made the bedrooms more private.

The kitchen

The Florida room

 The second bedroom with access to the Florida room

The master

The dockside view. South and west.

The only drawback for me was that you can only rent these for a minimum of three months. So no weekend rentals to people wanting to scallop or crab or fish.

Here's the Crystal River beach. Nice views of Dixie Bay. The Gulf here is only about 6 feet deep. For every mile you go offshore you gain another foot till you're about 10 miles out. Great fishing for redfish, tarpon and speckled trout.

We spent the night at the Homosassa River Resort, nothing special, no internet, nice bar, nice restaurant, great waitress who was willing to give us her impressions on where not to look for a place.

All in all, Homosassa/Crystal River is a great place to enjoy a slower lifestyle of fishing and nature. Just an hour from Tampa and Gainesville so culture isn't out of reach, but it's sub-tropical, which makes it a little colder in the winter and rental potential is limiited (although we did meet a couple older folks who were renting the "manufactured" homes.

I won't say it, cause I have another post to write.