7 Springs in 4 Days

Date:
25-28 June 2006

Place:
Ocala, FL
Deland, FL

Comments:
Kurt, Evan, Elizabeth and I spent a long weekend in the Ocala, Florida area, trying to visit as many springs as we could. We managed to swim in seven different springs in a four-day span! When we arrived in Ocala on Sunday (25 June), it was raining. From our motel in Ocala, we made a run to spring number 1, Juniper Spring, and swam for a little when the rain eased up. We brought our SpareAirs in but there isn't much to see in Juniper. The best thing there is the jumping wall and the sand boils. It kept raining, though, so we went back to town and went to see the movie "Cars" at the local theater.

The next morning we headed for spring number 2, Alexander Springs. Since it was a Monday, the park was not very busy. I went in, swam out to the vent, and saw my first alligator--probably a six-footer--swimming by the weeds at the far side of the pool. Back out of the pool for me! We went back in after it was gone and tried to use the SpareAirs again, but I couldn't get mine to work well so I ditched it for the rest of the trip. Next we headed for spring number 3, Silver Glen, stopping at Juniper Run on the way. We had the place to ourselves for about fifteen minutes and then a few buses pulled up and about 200 teens got out and stampeded into the spring! That was it for us. We packed up and headed back to the motel.

Tuesday morning we went to spring number 4, Salt Springs. I was exploring one of the vents and saw something brown swim right past me--a river otter! There were two in the water with us but we couldn't get anywhere near them when we swam after them. Some people told us there were three or four in the spring earlier. We also noticed two small alligators floating in the weeds near the pool but they didn't bother us and we didn't bother them. Then we packed up and drove to spring number 5, De Leon Springs. This was Evan's favorite because some railroad tracks ran just outside the park entrance and sure enough a freight train came by. We said we couldn't drive up to see the train so he took off running! The spring itself is just a great big bowl-shaped pool with a very deep vent--maybe 30 or 40 feet. We did some jumping and when some thunderstorms rolled in, we ducked into the Old Spanish Sugar Mill restaurant for some of their famous make-'em-yourself pancakes. Next was spring number 6, Blue Spring. Elizabeth and I rented a tube and waded up the run to the spring. We explored the vent and then drifted down to an awesome jumping platform--probably 6 or 7 feet off the water. Then it was back to the motel for our last night in Ocala.

We decided to get to another spring on the way home, so spring number 7 was Wekiwa Springs. The spring pool fairly shallow and the vent is in a cluster of rocks that looks sort of like a small canyon. You can swim into the vent and the water will push you up through the canyon.