Yes we are back with another Florida State Park visit, but this one I promise is different. Well by different I mean we don’t explore a nature trail, or swim in a Springs. Instead we do get out on the water for a tour, however before I explain that further lets get inside the park.

After paying for the water tour we head beyond the ticket booth area into the park. It has some really nice paved walkways, and the foliage was fairly well maintained in this front area. There was also a long building with multiple store fronts for plenty of shopping options while you visit.

Ok now let’s talk about this water tour. We were not getting into any canoes or pontoon boats, instead this was a Glass Bottom Boat tour. My family had never done something like this before and weren’t exactly sure what to expect.

Above is a photo of the fleet of boats. The tours start about every 20 minutes and the boats can accommodate about 25 people at a time.

Here’s how it works, the glass bottom is a strip down the middle of the boat, and all the guests sit on benches that are along both sides and the rear. The front is where your Captain sits, and also has a microphone to ensure all their information and expertise can be heard during your trip.

Once we launched and headed for deeper water this glass bottom boat was amazing. My kids were just fascinated with it and couldn’t take their eyes off aways from it.

The Captains all have a set route they take you on, but with their own expertise can adjust the locations to help ensure you see plenty of aquatic creatures. During our trip we saw tons of fish, turtles, and about a half dozen manatees.

After our 30 minute tour, the boat was docked and we all unloaded into that shopping area I mentioned earlier. On the day we visited quite a few of the shops were not open. Thankfully for me the penny machine was located outside so I was still able to use it.

Notice the wheels on the bottom of this cabinet. Obviously this is for easier placement of the machine, and from what I’ve seen online it does move around quite often. However it’s always under this covered little shopping area with only a few store front so it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

The pennies pressed really nicely at this machine. It really seems to have been given quite a bit of attention to keep it working properly. I’ve had some not great experiences in the past with these penny pincher style machines. I loved that one of the designs is of the Glass Bottom Boat, then we have some more generic “Florida” themed designs of a couple Manatees, a Gator and a Turtle. All of the designs do also say Silver Springs State Park, Ocala Florida on them which is such a nice feature.

My Florida State Park collection of pressed pennies has really been growing and it seems like we do have a few more to visit in the future. This tour was amazing and I can’t wait to come back and experience it again. Thanks for visiting, and as always Keep on Pressing!

---