bryanspeedracer

That didn't sound so positive...

Sorry for the delay in response and thank you to all.

This property is going to be a vacation home for me and snowbird home for my father. Right now there is a mobile home in rough shape on the property. I'll need to have that disposed of and go from there.
After talking with some of the neighbors and locals, I really am looking forward to the "Small town" amosphere. Crime rate is low which was another selling point. The property is off of Dunkenfield Rd. (If that means anthing to the guys that live there).

Bryan

florida gator

Yeah, I travel that road frequently going between 2 of my branches.

steve1k99

Sounds like Vangie Rich needs a time machine

Andy0331

Frightengly enough, I agree with many of her complaints....


#1. Pete's Pier is a $hithole.. It needs new ownership, upkeep & decent ramps. Many/most of the liveaboards there are beaters. The whole place is an eyesore & has the potential to be nice. I real marina, with a restaurant/bar & temporary dockage would be great.

Port paradise, or whatever it is now needs some dockage, not just a nasty rip rap seawall in 4 feet of water. I might actually pull the boat up to the tiki bar if I wasn't afraid of the wall & the rocky bottom.

2. The bay needs some regulation. It's not really all that big, and that's much of the problem. Boaters wanting to just cruise & go crazy, the damn PWC's zipping here & there. They need to mark off a free for all "play area" in the bay and keep all the games out of the channel that's a whopping 200 feet wide at best. It can be scary trying to get to the gulf with all the idiots running around in the channel.

The channel & parts of the bay need maintenance: Out past shell island the channel is what, about 40-50ft wide at most & very poorly marked. Parts of the bay are dotted with unmarked rocks just under the surface.

3. All the damn green floating "sea scum". Check your strainers after running... filled with all that crap. They've got the paddle-wheel thing doing it's half-ass cleaning job. Barely scrapes the surface.

I think that many of her complaints would be solved by getting rid of this crap. Can't see the bottom? Probably because of all the green hair algae, clumping, brain looking stuff. If she thinks the boaters cause this, she's wrong. It is linked to fertilizer runoff, etc.

On the plus side.. I think it's got great potential. The water is very clean. It's nice to come back from the Gulf & get a good engine flush in the spring water. It's nice for swiming; I don't really enjoy swimming in salt water & then dragging my crusty ass back in the boat. Fresh water rules.

With all the money that is coming into the community, some of it should belong in waterway upkeep & maintenance. If they wonder why it's getting crappy, it's because in it's present condition, it's going to draw more low-class boaters that don't care about it either.

Just some rambling thoughts..

Zero Patience

Keep up the negitave posts. Maybe everyone will read them and go away. Seriously the Manatee is a big problem. If you put a herd of cattle in your back yard, fed them 100 plus pounds of food(grass) a day, what do you think comes out the other end? Chocklate? What would your back yard look like with 300 plus Cows Pooping. The cause of the water discoloration is pure poop, Manatee poop. As a life long resident I have witnessed the demise of the river from Manatees not from People.The Manatee is used as a cause to impose Idle Zones for Blue haired Yankees like ______. There is so many that the grass is now gone and some fools want to feed the pesky things lettuce. They are named the West Indian Manatee. There were not a lot of them here when I was a child. The Indians used to eat them. One Sea Cow could feed the whole tribe. Much easier than shucking a couple thousand Oysters. My Great Grandfather told me the stories. Crystal River is a great place, but like the rest of Florida is becoming to populated. There are to many developers that want to cover the state with shingles, concrete and asphalt. I run out of here with a Cigarette at least once a month headed south. I have no problems with the channel or the Gulf. Bryan PM me if you want meet sometime.

bryanspeedracer

Thanks.

Andy0331

I'm not trashing the place, I do like it & have been going there for years.

I'm no friend of the manatees, but I don't think that they are the only problem the river & bay have. I assume you're being sarcastic, but I don't think the manatee $hit is the only thing turning the river brown.

You don't have a problem in the channel or Gulf? I don't really have one either, but all because we can manage it doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement....

My post was meant to say that it's nice as-is, but could go a long way to being more boater friendly. Obviously, home values are up tremendously (I pretty sure I saw your house on MLS last year); with bigger money coming in, some of it should go into upgrading the waterways. There will be much more property tax revenue in the years to come, it would be nice to see the City & County help everything hold it's value.

florida gator

I agree with Jimmy. My dad also tells me manatees were almost non existant when he was younger. The biggest point I was trying to make is the number of times she referred to it as "our bay". That is very typical of the waterfront residents. They don't own the bay because they live on it. She speaks of other local residents as the outsiders. Last I checked the millage rate was exactly the same for those off the bay as those that were on the bay.

You also have a longtime local resident wanting to open a marina and other business' on the barge canal. Helen Spivey has already come out in oposition as that is "prime manatee breeding grounds". That's a bunch of BS!!

These people do get me very aggravated which is why I now do more boating south of here than I do locally.

cuda

Here's a shot from Homosassa River, which is just south of Crystal River. It's a very serene setting.

florida gator

The second picture, from the dock, is up near the bluewater isn't it?