While you vacation at the luxury holiday get-away, Eiko’s Beach House in Treasure Island Florida, you may wonder how to create an exciting day out for the entire family.
We have found a solution.
What you need… is speed! Therefore, we suggest you and your group plan a day trip to Homosassa Springs , see the crystal clear waters, complete with manatee, visit a Civil War Era molasses mill and, most importantly, enjoy air boating.
What is an airboat?
Well it’s a flat bottom boat with no rudder. It mounts a propeller on the back (stern) and it propels you over the shallow water, reeds and swamps at over 40 mph!
You can go places that regular boats can’t access since no rudder nor propellers protrude from the bottom of the boat. This means you can access virtually any part of the wetlands and see creatures (read alligators, snakes and tropical birds) which are not available to be seen otherwise. Now how do you do this?
Where to go airboating?
In the Homosassa Springs area, there are three locations you can hire an airboat and skipper for a tour.
Top Gun Air Boats and River Safari are located in Homosassa while Ozello Boats is located in Crystal River.
We chose River Safari in Homosassa Springs to experience this adventure.
They have several boats, three which can seat 6 people, the identical number in our private group and a larger boat which can accommodate 12 passengers. There are a number of different tours you can choose from but our basic tour lasted about an hour; though the thrill of the experience will likely last a lifetime.
What’s it like?
After being seated, the motor or propeller fired up. The noise is similar to a propeller aircraft and headgear is provided to cut down on the noise.
We gently departed the dock and made our way down a bayou past low hanging Spanish Moss and viewed a long sunken fishing boat which triggered memories of Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
We slowly made our way out of Homosassa Springs port area and passed Monkey Island where a family of monkeys live with an exercise play kit of swings, poles and trapeze. As we past well-kept homes bordering the harbor we noticed small islands (islets) sometimes with just a single palm tree.
As we were exiting the harbour about 10 minutes into the trip, Captain Bob told us to put on the head gear as it would get louder.
And like that, we took off like a bullet from a gun.
Throughout the trip we skilfully avoided sunken hazards such a dead tree trunks, small islets, etc as Captain bob zigged and zagged around bayous and even took us over the reeds into the marshland.
There was a slight feeling of dread as we headed at full speed toward the reeds. However we glided over all obstacles and only slightly got wet when the captain decided to do a figure of eight prior to returning to port.
Who is airboating for?
This “must do” excursion cost around $57 per person but even a diehard adrenalin addict would be satisfied with the adventure.
While teenagers loved the experience, suggest you check on age restrictions as this tour could be too intense for younger children. Ir should be noted that there is no shade on an airboat, so that is something you need to be prepared for.
After we returned safely and started to relive our experience by telling tales of the most exciting part of the trip, we rode down to the Riverside Crab House for lunch and a great view of Monkey Island!
End the day at the best Treasure Island Beach house!
After our experience, we drove south on US 19, and after a two and a half hour drive, returned to Treasure Island.
As we swam in the Gulf of Mexico we reminisced on how much fun we had earlier airboating. Afterwards we meandered up to the hot tub, sipped Champagne and started to process how to plan the next day in paradise.
The verdict was, lets enjoy the next day totally relaxed at the Eiko’s Beach house! We need to recover from the excitement by enjoying the heated swimming pool and sitting on the second floor porch watching others parasail. Sometimes Adrenalin producing sports are better observed and the best place to do this is at Eiko’s Beach House in Treasure Island. See you in your private paradise shortly.
