Florida Spectacular

Florida Spectacular

Take a weekly trip across Florida with authors Cathy Salustri and Rick Kilby and discover a side of Florida you never knew existed. From the scallops in Panhandle bays to the Hemingway cats in Key West, every week's a Florida adventure. Get more Florida goodness with greatfloridaroadtrip.com and rickkilby.com.

Episodes

July 2, 2025 50 mins

Send us your Florida questions!

Did you know cattle ranchers were the "first intentional conservationists" in Florida? Annie Muscato does. She wrote her doctoral dissertation on it, and this week she joins the podcast to talk — passionately! — about research into how some Florida cattle ranchers are working to protect wild Florida, why Florida cattle ranching isn't nearly as cruel as it is in the rest of the country, ...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Andrea Conover of Azalea City Brewing and Palatka Mayor Robbie Correa join us this week to help roadtrippers find Palatka's best-kept secrets.

Links We Mentioned

Palatka Coffee Company

Angel's Diner

Palatka's historic riverfront

Velchoff's Corner

Ravine Gardens State Park

Magnolia Cafe

Azalea City Brewing

Lemon Street Market

Kayak tours 

North Star Charters 

Amara Zee 

Bronson Mulholland House ...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Rick serves on the board of the Winter Park History Museum, and Cathy lived there for a time in the '90s (and loves to go back). That's why the book written by this episode's guest, Kim Michalak, was so appealing to both of them. Kim shares how she selected her 100 things for her book 100 Things To Do in Winter Park Before You Die.

Links We Mentioned

100 Things To Do in Winter Park Before...

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Dan Reiter joins the podcast to talk about his career surfing Florida and writing about the same. The trio talks about everything from the best place to surf in Florida to why surfers shouldn't be scared of sharks. Check out Dan's book about surfing (link below).

Links We Mentioned

On a Rising Swell: Surf Stories From Florida's Space Coast (and a link to buy the book)

Ron Jon Surf Shop

Kell...

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Send us your Florida questions!

"Nature isn't just more complex than we know, it's more complex than we can know."

There's a sadly great chance that the State of Florida is going to build a toll road through the last remaining wild growth of a pretty — and pretty endangered — plant. Here's what's happening, where it's happening, and what you can do about it. 

Links We Mentioned

Background on the ...

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Historian Holly Baker joins the podcast to talk about her work in preservation in St. Augustine, Vero Beach, and throughout Florida. The trio also talks about what makes a building historic, preserving historic evidence of Jim Crow, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Links We Mentioned

St. Augustine

Davis Shores

Bridge of Lions

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine

Lincolnville Museum

Where is Lincolnvil...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Florida author and naturalist Andrew Furman returns to the podcast to talk about his latest book, Of Slash Pine and Manatees: A Highly Selective Guide to My Suburban Wilderness.

Links We Mentioned

Bitten: My Unexpected Love Affair With Florida

Bidens pilosa (aka beggartick, etc., etc.) and its medicinal uses

Frogfruit (aka hatpin)

Who invented the grassy lawn?

Yellow-crowned night heron


Photo by Andrew ...

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How Bowers of the Retro WDW podcast joins Rick and Cathy to talk about the not-so-secret-after-all Florida Project, the origins of Disney Springs, and what Cypress Gardens had to do with Walt Disney deciding Florida would be a great place for a theme park. 

Links We Mentioned

Retro WDW

Lake Buena Vista Historical Society

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular.com.

Subscr...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Orlando historian Rachel Williams joins the podcast to talk about Colonial Plaza Mall (now a shadow of its former self and called Colonial Marketplace), and from there the conversation moves to caves in Ocala, coffee roasters we love, and the importance of the shopping mall in Florida culture. 

Links We Mentioned

Ocala Caverns (and what's the difference between a cave and a cavern, anyway?)

Rachel&a...

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Send us your Florida questions!

TJ Fridrich, with the Save the Manatee Club, joins the podcast to talk about what listeners need to know about when manatee can be dangerous (seriously!), what their mating behavior might look like, and where you can see some excellent documentaries about manatee and their ilk.

Links We Mentioned

Save The Manatee Club

The Disturbance Theory

Mating herd in Haulover Canal

Report a manatee sighting

Amazonian m...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Rick and Cathy talk about the middle basin of the St. Johns River, eco tours, and wildlife seen along the waterway. 

Links We Mentioned

Floridiana Festival at the Matheson

Squarehouse Pizza

Love Vine?

Welaka Florida

Lake Jesup

St. Johns River info

Airboat on the St. Johns

Airboat chase sequence in Gone Fishin'

"36 Hours in Orlando" (New York Times)

Bill Belleville's River of Lakes

Florida&apos...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Josh Ginsberg, author of Secret Tampa Bay, Secret Orlando, Tampa Bay Scavenger, Oldest Tampa Bay — among others — joins the podcast to talk about his favorite hidden gems in Tampa Bay and Orlando. The trio talks about everything from the Wizard of Oz to taxidermied animals.


Links We Mentioned

TerriblyOdd.com

Josh Ginsberg books

Dysfunctional Grace (Ybor City)

Tiger Dust (Seminole Heights)

Wizard of Oz ...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Craig Pittman, co-host of the Welcome to Florida podcast, joins Florida Spectacular to talk about his latest book by the same name. This episode takes a roller coaster approach to Florida, and along the way the trio discusses nudist resorts, snakes, where to find dead bodies, and... well, take a listen. It's quite a ride.

Links We Mentioned

Welcome to Florida

Dawn Lee McKenna

God's Trombone&apos...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Josh Gunderson, the creative mind behind the popular Oviedo Mall account on Twitter, joins the podcast to talk about mall culture in Florida, his new book, The Lamenting Mall Rats Society, and whether or not Oviedo Mall really is haunted. 

Links We Mentioned 

@OviedoMall on Threads

The actual Oviedo Mall

The Lamenting Mall Rats Society

B. Dalton Booksellers

District Oviedo

Paddler's Guide to the Sunshin...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Jon Bortles joins Cathy and Rick to talk about Florida Tiki culture and all things Tiki. 

Bahi Hut Meetup with Rick, Cathy, and Jon — April 11, 7 p.m.

Links We Mentioned

Tahitian Motor Lodge Tarpon

Tahitian Inn Tampa

Hawaiian Inn Daytona

Best Western Aku Tiki

Peking Palace in Clearwater

Mai Kai

Julian's Ormond Beach

The Honu



Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacular...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Spring has sprung, the pollen is here, and it's time once again to talk about plants and landscaping. Eric Schmidt, the Botanical Records Specialist for Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens, talks about a few of his favorite plant places in Florida, his experiences consulting on the Animal Kingdom and Star Wars landscaping efforts at the Walt Disney World Resort, and a special tree he has planted in hi...

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Send us your Florida questions!

This week, Joe Colucci from Munyon's Paw Paw Liqueur joins the podcast to talk about his Florida-made papaya liqueur — and the fascinating Florida history behind it.

Links We Mentioned

Munyon Island

Munyon's Paw Paw Liqueur

Mai Kai

The Great Outdoors in High Springs

Ottos High Dive

Copper Rocket

Munyon Hope Association

Tiki A Go Go

Support the show

Question or comment? Email us at cathy@floridaspectacu...

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Send us your Florida questions!

 Cathy and Rick give a whirlwind tour of botanical gardens they have loved, talk about Rick's proposal to his wife and where he hid her ring, how to pronounce anole, and where to find flamingos. 

Links We Mentioned

Florida Botanical Gardens

Harry P. Leu Gardens

Orlando Exploration Gardens

Brown anoles and more about them

Selby Botanical Gardens (and the George Harrison exhibit)

Boiled books 

Botanical ga...

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Send us your Florida questions!

Jack Davis, the Pulitzer-winning author of The Gulf: Making of an American Sea, joins the podcast to talk about what he thinks of the Gulf of Mexico's nomenclature glow-up. The talk migrates to sea level rise, John D. MacDonald's books, and his "Gulf of Mexico" playlist.

Links We Mentioned

General Jesup and Lake Jesup

Pork Chop Gang

John D. MacDonald and his book Condominium

Cathy'...

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Send us your Florida questions!

At the Florida Springs Council, the Florida Madcaps podcast host Ryan Worthington and Florida Spectacular host Cathy Salustri taped a crossover podcast in front of a live audience. Their guests are Max Chesnes, the Tampa Bay Times environmental reporter; TJ Fridrich, a biologist with Save the Manatee Club; and Federico Acevedo, of the Florida Wildlife Federation. 

The podcast subjects — a definite vari...

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