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Levy Blue Spring

Spring Visit
Personal Impressions: 

Honestly one of the dirtiest springs I've ever swam in. The water quality is fine (with low visibility due to many children stirring up the sand), but I discovered a half-dozen plastic bottles full of sand in and around the spring vent. As I took a couple out, I saw children pick them out of the trash and throw them back into the water.

Think of this place like a typical community pool. Even toward the end of the day, there were many, many more children than parents (leading me to believe many of them were dropped off to swim unattended), an entrance fee of $1, poorly run facilities, and a staff that seemed more interested in telling me to, "be careful not to let 'em steal that camera." I was told four or five times that I'd turn my back for a second it would be gone.

Needless to say, I don't really recommend this place unless you get here bright and early. The spring itself has a very interesting landscape along the bottom but isn't really explorable or interesting.

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  • county park
  • swimming
  • Levy

Manatee Springs

Spring Visit
Personal Impressions: 

It was later in the day when I first visited Manatee Springs, so that probably already threw off the trip a little. The park was moderately busy but the swimming area wasn't very crowded. With only one entrance to the spring pool area it was a little congested getting into the water, but once afloat there was plenty of room to move around.

It's worth nothing that there's almost nowhere to stand in the pool. As far as I could tell, the water pours out of a cave between 30ft and 40ft below the surface. You can swim to the banks near the cypress trees and barely get your toes on the sand, but for the most part this is a snorkeling and floaty spring only.

Diving down to the cave caught me by surprise as I had to clear my ears three times before getting to the mouth, and even then the force of the water escaping pushed me a good five feet downstream. This free-dive isn't for the feint of heart and could be the deepest I've had to dive to find one (save maybe DeLeon). It's enough to make me want to go back in the morning when the water is clearer and the sun is higher.

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  • state park
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  • Levy

Hart Springs

Spring Visit
Personal Impressions: 

The first visit was a bust (March 2010) due to the flooding of the Suwannee. Apparently this happens fairly regularly, so be sure to check ahead to make sure the Springs are open and clear.

The second visit was a pleasant surprise and did not disappoint. I sort of forgot that the park was maintained/owned by Gilchrist county (and thus had an entrance fee), but my $4 was well worth it a few minutes later. The facilities for changing were very nice, and the concession stand wasn't half bad either! With two vents, even the number of people didn't deter me from hopping in and going for the more-eastern vent. While a little scary being all alone in the pool surrounding the boil of this vent, the depth was extraordinary. I was able to dive a good 15 to 20 feet before reaching a horizontal cave gushing clear water. Visibility wasn't great due to all the vegetation, but I'm not sure why the spring showed so little use. I was pleased.

Rather than exit at the beach and walk to the other vent, I chose to swim the gap. Visibility in this area wasn't quite up to what I expected, but it was mostly due to the crowds and sand being kicked up. Swimming a few feet under the surface gave me a better if darker view, spotting many schools of fish darting around unsuspecting visitors. After a quick breath under the bridge I arrived at the pool for the second vent.

I see now why it was more populated and fresh: the walkway above the sharp banks opened a tiny bit to allow jumpers access directly over the boil. It was more difficult to swim in this area due to that fact, but the clarity and force of the water made up for it. Check out the photos below for July 2010; the clarity of some of the later shots is amazing.

A boardwalk takes visitors out to the Suwannee which flows by just a quarter-mile from the springs. Had the mosquitoes and heat not been as bad I may have snapped more shots, but it is nice to take a step away from the crowds and see a seemingly different ecosystem.

Overall, Hart Springs surprised me. I think it's only downside is its location: fairly far from I-75 for hoppers from the east. However, if you ever end up in the High Springs / Suwannee River area, stop by. Just make sure it's in the summer!

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  • county park
  • suwannee river
  • boating
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  • fishing
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  • Gilchrist

Otter Springs

Spring Visit
Personal Impressions: 

My first visit to the spring was a dud; although the adventure to the location was indeed fun, the spring was flooded (check the March 2010 photos for the evidence). In fact, it took me a good ten minutes to find where the boil would have been and realized that the Suwannee had flooded at least a good 4-5 feet. The sandbags on the sides of the pool were under a foot of tannic water.

I was anticipating the second visit much more but I was unfortunately let down. The lack of local interest and funding/ownership has let this spring eat itself with vegetation and overgrowth, so much so that the entire cave is covered in some kind of loosely-fitted algae and grass. I took one dive through the cave and kicked up enough of it that my camera could no longer focus on or see anything nearby. The run is nice however, and due to the relatively low crowds, some good isolated relaxation can occur.

Bottom line here is that this is as close as you will get to a spring that has good parking and good privacy. Other than that, it's not really worth much of your time.

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  • Gilchrist

Fanning Springs

Spring Visit
Personal Impressions: 

Fanning Springs was the first stop on my five-spring day, so this visit was somewhat early in the morning (9am-10am). The spring itself was very clear and the park was mostly clean. I could have gone for a larger changing area, but that goes for basically any state park. In the morning the spring boil is under a lot of shade, which making snorkeling a little less fun. However, the way it's tucked into the surrounding wetlands with just a short walk down the floating dock to view the Suwannee, it's pretty magical in the morning. A few boats were parked at the floating dock, making it feel like a little microcosm of some of the larger springs.

While there aren't any caves that you can really get into with all the limestone rocks fallen everywhere, the sand boils are plentiful and fun to watch. The depression is also very deep, which allows for a lot of exploring. Many fish populate the spring pool, both in the weeds and out, and there's even a newly-constructed diving/jumping platform that was quite the hit while I was photographing the boil.

Overall, the park is very pristine, offers a variety of depths for swimming, lots of sand boils to watch at the bottom of the depression, and even a safe jumping platform. It can get pretty crowded, but it's one of the better swimming areas in the Florida Springs ecosystem.

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  • state park
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  • Levy

New Format

fbrogers — Wed, 08/25/2010 - 13:16

I think it's time for a format change! Rather than leave myself with a huge amount of content to sort, post, and post everywhere, I'm going to start promoting the springs themselves to the front page as I visit them! That way if one of my trips takes me to, say, 25 springs (like my recent vacation), I can spread the love and information out over a much broader time-frame. I think (hope) this will make it a little easier to keep track of my happenings and will make it more manageable from my side of the street.

Don't worry! Photos will actually be more plentiful now, and I may even separate photo dumps from the spring pages, given that the springs will contain so much information that it may push the photos down the page somewhat. This should also give the page more of a "travelers" feel, which I think is what the site should scream anyway ;)

Oh and this is the first test of the LiveJournal Cross-poster Module, yay!

[flickr-photo:id=4788695061]
A recent fun trip to Ichetucknee Springs

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Photo Dump: Alexander Springs

fbrogers — Tue, 07/13/2010 - 17:50

Not much to this story. A few of my friends and I got together Sunday night and played a fair bit of true-blue N64 Goldeneye, waking up at 7am to travel to Kelly Park (Rock Springs). After waiting in line for 20 minutes only to find that it was full (it was Memorial Day), we booked it for Alexander Springs. We called ahead and confirmed that the park was indeed open, but once we got there, we had to wait outside the park for close to 45 minutes for an opening.

It seems to be happening more year after year, but the rule has been true since I was young: for the best experience, get there when the park opens. 

Other than that, it was a great swim. Got some great pictures and video! It rained about halfway through the trip and half the crowd up and left. Another great trick at the springs: wait out the rain. A lot of spring-goers are there for the sun, the grilling, and a quick game of frisbee, and the first sign of rain will send them home. After the storm, the water was empty and the spring was prime for diving.

[flickr-photoset:id=72157624117417363,size=s]

Spring Link: 
Alexander Springs
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Blue Springs Swim Photo Dump

fbrogers — Thu, 05/13/2010 - 17:28

This weekend I took my friends Nick, Chris, Megan, and Rob to Volusia Blue Springs, or Blue Springs State Park. It was a nice opportunity to go with some individuals who had either never been to one before or were dying to get out of the house on Sunday. Chris took his Nikon D700 along for some dry shots while Nick and I dove headfirst into the closer-to-the-boil entrance and swam against the current up to the head spring. Enjoy the photo dump!

[flickr-photoset:id=72157623924261955,size=s]


Spring Link: 
Volusia Blue Springs
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Wekiwa Visit, One Year Later

fbrogers — Sun, 05/02/2010 - 16:20

Well, skipping ahead of my big blog article (forthcoming) about Clay County so I can do a quick write-up about my recent visit to Wekiwa. My friend Alan came to visit this weekend so I took him and my friend Rob to the park to swim (he'd never been to Florida before so I figured I'd introduce him to a close spring). Not a very note-worthy trip, but I had to buy sunscreen at the concessions area because I forgot my spray-on stuff at home.

The water at Wekiwa is still very nice to swim in due to its relative depth of about 6 feet all throughout the spring pool. I threw on my mask, fins, and snorkel and dove into the pool. I've never had much success going down into the trench/vent, but this time I did it about 15 times, looking all around the best I could. Here's a montage of some of those dives:

 


I took some other videos and underwater photographs, which are now posted on the Wekiwa Springs page (link below).

 

Spring Link: 
Wekiwa Springs
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Photo Dump: Clay County

fbrogers — Sun, 04/25/2010 - 22:38

On a day that was meant to be for a trip out to Suwanee County, I ended up dropped into nostalgia and traveled back to my home county, Clay County, to check on a whim if I could find the handful of minor springs in Doctor's Lake. An amazing story followed for the day, but that will have to wait for the blog post. For now, here are the pictures that made the cut for these albums.

W.W.Gay Springs
[flickr-photoset:id=72157623917637020,size=s]

Wadesboro Spring
[flickr-photoset:id=72157623793232221,size=s]

Green Cove Springs Park
[flickr-photoset:id=72157623793438621,size=s]

Spring Link: 
Green Cove Spring
W. W. Gay Springs
Wadesboro Spring
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