"The greatest show that was ever afloat..."

"All aboard, all aboard
On the glass bottom boat
It's the greatest show that was ever afloat
Take a ride on the tide with the guide and see
The way out wonders of the deep blue sea"

From the 1966 film, "The Glass Bottom Boat" (lyrics by Joe Lubin, sung by the delightful Doris Day)


Few rides are more inviting, exciting and relaxing simultaneously than a glass bottom boat ride. Silver Springs Park basically invented them, so we knew we were in for a treat when we boarded our first of two glass bottom boat rides that day, this one lead by Captain Dale, who originally hailed from Chicago (I could pick off his accent, sharp as a scythe, in a nanosecond. When you grow up South Side in the depths of that dialect, you can almost smell it, and it brought to my senses Niki's hot dogs and fries).

Clear natural springs feed the river and the proof is in the viewing. It's like riding the submarine ride at Disneyland, only this is REAL. Real water plants and fish and turtles and an occasional alligator. The fish in the photo were lil' dickens, darting around and about, a jolly lot.

The view is tinted in tourmaline -- exquisite.