Crystal Blue Lagoon. You pull up and think, ehhh..... it's a block building painted up. Out front is an eclectic fountain and it's done up in the manatee and mermaid theme. There are friendly little lizards greeting you as well as grasshoppers - so cool. But then the experience begins. You enter in through the back door, which is brilliant - as you get to see a glimpse of Kings Bay and the property. Outside also are usable bikes, canoes and kayaks, as well as a fire pit set up for your usage.

Upon entering you are greeted by a magical underwater tribute. The floors are hand-painted a beautiful mural of manatees, deserted islands, sand-written messages, etc - really well done.

The place is spotless!! The Concierge, Tina is phenomenal! She really busts her tail around the place inside and out and she is super friendly, making sure your every whim is met and questions are answered. She even allowed us to leave behind a little of our recently departed "Dingo" who we know will love it there in the flower bed.

We took a manatee dive with one of the local places right around the corner. Upon being taken out in the boat, we looked and the B&B was right there. We couldn't believe that we were diving right there! Saw 3 manatee. The last day we were there we decided to walk into the bay from the steps of the inn and it was super shallow. We swam out and piggy backed onto a dive already in progress (which I'm sure they just loved). We saw 1 and then left off and journeyed on our own - seeing 3 more! We then ventured over into the pool area by the boat house. It really doesn't look like much from land but from there - holy moly was it beautiful. It's deep and clear and and there is a spring that feeds into the bay from there and it is just breathtaking. Tina keeps it really clean and it had a ladder that you can exit from - super sturdy and easy to get out. Can't say enough about this area. It's just wonderful and we sure kicked ourselves for waiting until the last day to explore the area. One thing - if you have a snorkel, bring it - they don't really have any, just masks.

Tina keeps the kitchen/fridge area stocked and it's a help yourself system. She even had bacon and eggs if you wanted it. She's not a cook, that's up to you - but it is there if you want it. Also, coffee maker, cold coffee, beer, wine, soda are all available if you want it.

What else can we say? You won't regret it. I know we are already planning our next visit.

This property is now called the Crystal Blue Lagoon Bed and Breakfast. It is not a traditional bed and breakfast. The owner does not stay on property and breakfast is help yourself to cold cereals, instant oatmeals, breads and pastries, or there are eggs and meats available if you want to cook.There are snacks and drinks available as well. The downstairs of the house is actually almost magical. It is bright and open and floor murals cover every inch of the open floor plan and with tons of seating overlooking the river. The bedrooms are decent sized with a comfy bed. There is also a huge second story deck overlooking the cove with lots of seating and a great view.
There are four clear kayaks available at any time and two traditional kayaks. The clear kayaks were fun to try out but they are sort of like a kayak-canoe hybrid and felt rather like paddling a bathtub. If we had stayed longer I think we would have switched over the the traditional kayaks and traveled further. Having those kayaks on site, however, saves a bundle of money on rental fees.
We did not actually see any manatees while we were there. We had been told most of them had left the area when the weather had warmed up early. We know there were manatees in the cove because there were numerous snorkeling tour boats there from sun up to sun down, but they were always surrounding any manatees in the water and we could not get close enough to even see them. I don't know if this happens when the manatees in the area are more plentiful. We did paddle around to Crackers restaurant where you can dock your kayaks and they have a really nice deck to eat on.
The only issues we had there were related to showering.The hot water completely ran out one morning but, to their credit, when I texted the owners a handyman appeared at the door in about 15 minutes. He stated that it was probably just someone else using the hot water at the same time, so you might want to try to coordinate shower times. Also, we learned very quickly not to let anyone else flush or turn on the sink water in the bathroom while someone else was taking a shower.
All and all it is a really unique place to stay. There are restaurants and at least three nice playgrounds within walking distance. The only real downside of our stay were the tour boats all over the cove.

At first I thought this place was a little "Ketchy", very quaint, painted floors are beautiful, a Floridian vibe. We stayed two nights and I was pleasantly surprised. The Three Sisters State Park is a mile down the road, and 20 minutes by kayak (3 kayaks for guests on site). Since the only access is walking or kayak, it was perfect (no cars or bike access to the park). This is the park with clear blue water where the manatees hang out, although they were literally right outside the house too (baby manatee so the pod was there, even though not Manatee season (July). We happened to go during the Scallop Festival, drove our cars over rather than walking, and found with no parking the perfect place to park was back at the B&B. The kids wanted to rent paddle boards - and again, the rental / park is 4 blocks away. There's a fantastic restaurant (crab shack?) about 6 miles away too, inexpensive and really 5 star food. The best part was the open kitchen floor plan. Our friends could meet up with us and plan our day, and I loved being able to cook breakfast or whatever we wanted, store our food in the fridge, and that they asked what we wanted for breakfast and bought yogurt just for us. My comparison would be it's like you're staying at your own home, private, occasionally chat with other guests, but very laid back. We will be going again.