Crystal Isles RV Resort Florida

Welcome to Florida! We said peace to Texas and B-lined it to Florida for a little more sunshine and a lot more heat🌞. Our first park in the sunshine state was Crystal Isles RV Resort in the small town of Crystal River. This was our first Encore resort through the Trails Collection add on and we were not quite sure what to expect.

Soggy Diaper??

My initial thought, compared to Texas campgrounds, was……… “I DON’T like it”.  This was our first place that we didn’t get to pick our site out (which we really like corner spots for some extra elbow room). We got stuck in the middle rows surrounded by five other sites, left, right, behind and kitty corners to us. But, don’t pass on this little gem just yet! By day two I changed my soggy diaper and realized there is a lot more to a RV park than just your site. Also, by day three we liked our gravel pad, concrete slab and three palm trees so much we extended our stay another two days! Don’t jump to conclusions, Aaron……..jeez.

 

Grounds/Sites 

 

map – As I said, my initial thought was bad, but later realized that our site (128) was really a good one. It was 65% shaded throughout the days, helping to keep the heat down and we were grateful for the little bit of privacy that we did have from the palms.  This small 254 site park is really quite beautiful, full of trees, palms, ponds, and a row of sites that have boat/dock access to the Crystal River. I’m already missing our early morning runs through the windy park roads and super tall palms all around!

 

Amenities 

Two words…. Ice Cream. Ya, they had a full mini ice cream stand that served banana splits, twist cones, sundaes, cookie sandwiches and milk shakes mixed with your choice of candy! Served daily from 1pm-8pm at a reasonable price and I didn’t even try anything……… definitely kicking myself now.  I have to say I really liked this park. Schooling the wife in some hoops on the basketball court was just a cherry on top. Check out my final swish in around the world. Also, there was a killer white sand volleyball court, plus tennis and shuffleboard. A few other things I feel require mentioning are, pontoon rentals, small fitness room, really nice laundry facilities and a nicely sized pool with plenty of loungers.

 

Location

About four miles down the road is a really great powder white sand public beach called Fort Island Beach. There is a nice bike lane all the way down the road too if you brought your wheels. Also, five miles away is the uber popular wildlife refuge for manatees called Three Sister Springs.  Ironically, we didn’t go (doh!), but take a look at the pictures, they are preeeetayyy amazing.

Unique Characteristic

Negative point here for the bugs! The no-see-ums where ferocious all day and all night leaving little red bumps on my legs, that I don’t normally have a reaction to. Christine is a mosquito magnetic back home in Minnesota and these little buggers almost sent her running back there! Bring plenty of good bug spray and repellents to help ward them off. The locals were even slow burning their fires all day to help produce smoke to clear them out. Price you pay for being close to the water and having thick foliage I guess.

Final thoughts

7 out of 10! We’ll be back for sure. If you like RV resort style camping with nice amenities and beautiful grounds, you will enjoy Crystal Isles RV Resort for sure.  Just watch out for the no-see-ums.