About a Week
7 days · ~780 miles · from Gainesville
The Florida the postcards forgot: crystal springs and manatees, a sponge-diving Greek town, a Cracker author's homestead, the great lake's muck towns and the Tamiami Trail through the Everglades to Calle Ocho.
This trip chains: Cross Creek & the Springs · The Nature Coast · The Big Water · The Tamiami Trail
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's homestead at Cross Creek, the wild-bison horizon of Paynes Prairie, and glass-clear Silver Springs by boat — overnight Ocala.
Juniper Springs run in the Ocala forest, then west to Three Sisters Springs to swim with manatees and Homosassa's monkey island. Overnight on the Nature Coast.
Up the lonely coast to old Cedar Key for clams and a Gulf sunset, with a Steinhatchee detour for the fishing-village calm. Overnight Cedar Key.
The live-mermaid show at Weeki Wachee, then Tarpon Springs' sponge docks and Greek bakeries — the long drive south begins. Overnight near Tampa.
Across the peninsula to the Big Water: climb the Hoover Dike, the 1928 hurricane memorials, and a night at the old Clewiston Inn.
South to the Ten Thousand Islands: the historic Smallwood Store at Chokoloskee and stone crab at Everglades City. Overnight on the edge of the swamp.
The world's smallest post office at Ochopee, Clyde Butcher's black-and-white Everglades, the Shark Valley tower and a Miccosukee village — finish with a cortadito on Calle Ocho.