The ride was a history and geology lesson wrapped up in to an entertaining 40-minute ride on the Silver River. We saw lots of fish and turtles under the water but they were tricky to photograph so G. took some video of the underwater sights.
The glass bottom boat...
I didn't know that the Silver River has been an underwater set location for quite a few movies, including the 007 movie "Moonraker." My phone camera wasn't so great but if you look closely, you can see the statues used in that movie. Those same statues have been used in several other movies as well.
Silver Springs is a theme park but it is small and does not feature rides other than the glass bottom boat and a slow moving horizontal Ferris wheel that takes you above the treeline to get a bird's eye view of the park.
This place is really all about the animals and wildlife of Florida. It reminded me a bit of the Wildlife Park in Gray because it featured mostly creatures native to its state (although it's not a wildlife rehab center).
G. was in her glory with a camera during our visit so I'll let her share her pictures as she explored the park.
We saw live white alligators. They are like the blue lobsters of Maine, rare and unusual. According to National Geographic News, "Albino alligators do not survive long in the wild because their white skin makes them susceptible to sunburn and makes them easy targets for predators. Out of an estimated 5 million American alligators living worldwide, only 30 are known to be true albinos."
Silver Springs held a contest to name these gators (a female and male) and the plaque identified the final choices - Casper and Ivory.
G. took some video around the park as well...
Many of the birds at the park were not caged but there were a few that were. This little Houdini wanna-be made us laugh, but also made us a bit sad because clearly he was smart enough to understand how to get out. Trouble was, he just couldn't open the lock on his own. He put in a good effort trying though...
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