Chiefland is north of Tarpon Springs, Florida. We wanted to see Manatee Springs State Park and revisit Cedar Key. We enjoyed the area in the past. Chiefland’s economy primarily relies on agriculture including; peanuts, watermelons, ranching and timber. Cedar Key is known for fishing and oystering.
Cedar Key, Florida
Cedar Key was only a half hour drive from Chiefland. We wanted fresh seafood while overlooking the Gulf.
There are the usual tourist shops in Cedar Key with plenty of funny t-shirts for any occasion. We previously stayed at Low Key Hideaway. They only had a few RV sites at the time, but they were finally able to add more sites. The main problem with Low Key Hideaway is its proximity to the main road, making it a little hard to sleep at night because of trucks and motorcycles. We really enjoyed their Tiki bar and live music.
Numerous birding opportunities in the area.
Manatee Springs State Park, Chiefland, Florida
They had 50 amp service, sewer and water. The trees blocked any satellite signal. There wasn’t any wifi and our mobile hot spot, even with using an outside antenna was one bar of intermittent LTE. Our site was on sand but Sandy was happy to be back in the woods.
Manatee Springs is located about 6 miles west of Chiefland. There is an 800 foot boardwalk that goes to the Suwannee River. In addition to the hiking trails, there is boating and scuba diving.
Manatee Spring is a 72 degree F spring that flows to the Suwannee River. Even though we saw manatees almost daily, they were somewhat difficult to see without polarized glass and there were fewer compared to Blue Spring State Park. There are sinkholes and extensive caverns that can be explored by cave diving.
Black vultures winter here. The large numbers of them created an eerie ominous atmosphere, especially in the morning fog.
A group of about 10 White-tailed deer frequented our site numerous times each day. Jake enjoyed watching them and of course, the squirrels.
Spring flowers and trees were just starting to bloom.
