Homosassa, Florida: Manatee Tours - Weird Statues

We were there in 2014 and the tour is actually pretty good! It's a husband and wife operation and they could spot a manatee from pretty far and will get you close. There's only one area that now allows you to get close to manatees now and we were right there with a whole bunch of them thanks to good spotting! The sculptures outside the office are a riot and died give it a "sketchy" feel but the tour is quite legit!

Visible from Route 19 is a fabulous collection of sea animal fiberglass sculptures that has some great photo ops. Out front is a giant squid wrapped around the rear fin of a great white shark who has the lower half of a woman's body in his mouth. There are also beautiful jellyfish, a snake wrapped around a tree, mother and baby manatees, a mermaid on a rock, and much more.

The artist, Capt. Don, was so kind to give us a tour and answer my zillion questions about Manatees. He even showed us some of his art that is still under construction, including a motorcycle/octopus hybrid (Octocycle) and a dissection to show the internal organs of a manatee.

We signed up for one of his snorkeling trips to swim with the manatees! His prices are very reasonable and I know we'll learn a lot.

[Tipster] Alison said it perfectly, "Sketchy!" Car-keys-in-hand-ready-to-go type of sketchy. We said hi to the two elderly gentlemen, who stayed seated as we began to look around. The theme seems to be sea life creations with a random large ice cream cone statue. The large shark and what we believe to be a jellyfish were the two most impressive things there. Ahhhhhh, shark attack!

No longer abandoned, is now a swim-with-the-manatees facility -- although pretty sketchy looking.

When you take the road right outside Weeki Wachee Mermaid park and turn left to go to Homosassa Springs via 19 north, you cannot miss this place -- off the side of the road on the right about 2/3 the way to Homosassa Springs. The manatee tour attraction is closed but you can walk around and look at all the weird stuff. It was a trip highlight finding this!