Manatees at Homosassa Springs

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, FL — If swimming with manatees is not your style, one of the best ways to enjoy them up close is at Homosassa Springs. Here they’ve taken the idea of a fishbowl and turned it inside out. Instead of peering into an aquarium, the  Fish Bowl (or “Peoplebowl” as it’s sometimes called) invites visitors to step down into the center of the spring where fish and curious manatees can peer at the people.

The 168-ton floating observatory, built back in 1964, has given generations of visitors an intimate glimpse of manatees in their native environment, along with more than 30 species of fresh and saltwater fish.

Six million gallons an hour erupt from the 45-foot depths of Homosassa Springs, and the water has the clarity of an aquarium. Since the Gulf of Mexico is only nine miles away, both fresh and saltwater fish congregate here. As the manatees play in the spring, you can actually hear them squeal to each other. They frequently approach the glass to get a look at the people.

Since the park was purchased by the state in 1989, it has served as a halfway home for sick and injured manatees and a showcase for Florida wildlife. “When they’re initially injured and treated at the medical facilities, they’re in concrete tanks,” a park spokesman said. “This is an excellent place for them to get back into a more natural environment. The animals that we get here are pretty much over their injuries.”

In 2010, a survey recorded more than 5,000 manatees in Florida — a record for this endangered species. During the winter months, the animals concentrate themselves near the relative warmth of Florida’s freshwater springs (and the warm water discharge of power plants.)

Flamingo at Homosassa Springs

But there’s more to Homosassa than the manatees.  A short pontoon boat ride along Pepper Creek runs through a delightful hydric hammock composed of sabal palms, live oaks, loblolly pines, magnolia and wax myrtle trees. A 1-mile elevated boardwalk circles among wildlife exhibits along the Homosassa River that feature a full complement of Florida natives, including alligators, crocodiles, snakes, birds, bears, bobcats and river otters. The park  also has rare red wolves, whooping cranes, and a Florida panther. As with the manatees, most of these animals are injured or otherwise unable to live in the wild. Educational programs are scheduled throughout the day.

Homosassa Springs has been a popular tourist destination since the early 1900s, when it was a rest stop for train passenger who were wowed by the site of alligators jumping out of the water for food.

It changed hands many times over the years and when the state took over the property 155-acre property in 1989, its ecosystems had been badly damaged. Over the years exotic species were removed and the natural setting of the spring and Pepper Creek was rehabilitated. But one exotic animal was allowed to stay. The hippopotamus named Lucifer, who served as a movie actor earlier in his career, became the object of a letter-writing campaign instigated by the Citrus County Chronicle. Governor Lawton Chiles relented and let Lucifer live out the rest of his life at the park.

Homosassa Springs Information:

The park is located at 4150 S. Suncoast Boulevard, Homosassa, Florida 34446. Phone: (352) 628-5343. The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m and tickets are$13 for adults and $5 for children ages 6-12.

Hotel & Lodging Information:

Many hotels, cabins and vacation rentals are available in nearby Crystal River. Here are a few favorites:

• Homosassa River Retreat has seven fully equipped cottages on the river. Rates from $80 to $150 per night. Phone: (352) 628-7072.
• Kings Bay Lodge in Crystal River has rooms from $70 per night. Phone: (352) 795-2850.
• Homosassa River Resort has rooms from $65 per night, as well as three restaurants and a marina. Phone: (352) 628-2474.
• McCrae’s of Homosassa has rooms from $50 to $125 nightly, dining and a marina. Phone: (352) 628-2602.

Silver Springs, FL — How long has Silver Springs been a Florida attraction? Depends on how you reckon it, but people have been coming here for a long time indeed. About 10,000 years ago, the Timucuan Indians gathered at the headwaters of the Silver River to hunt Columbian Mammoths. In the mid 1950s, the lovely and talented Jane Russel came here to star in the Howard Hughes thriller Underwater! In between there were steamboats and turpentine stills, Spanish explorers and Seminole Wars.

Although Silver Springs remains a popular tourist attraction, with Jeep jungle tours, boat rides a water park for kids, there’s lately a sadness about the place, a wistful acknowledgement that its glory days are past. Even the popular concert series here features country and rock ‘n roll acts who are mostly of the reunion-tour variety.

But with so much natural beauty and so much rich history, Silver Springs remains a place well worth the visit. And to dive into the history of the place, the newly revitalized Silver River Museum at Silver River State Park is just the ticket.

A Natural History of Silver Springs

A giant Columbian Mammoth towers over the first exhibits at the Silver River Museum, dramatically representing the time when Silver Springs was a hub of activity for the Paleo Indians who hunted and fished here. The mammoth was discovered at a kill site about a mile from the main spring in the 1970s. Pins and points, fish hooks and other artifacts all point to time when the main value the springs provided were simple necessities.

Paleo Indians Hunt a Pre-Columbian Mammoth at Silver Springs

There are plenty of fossils on display here, but no dinosaurs since Florida was underwater during that epoch.  The first wing of the museum is devoted to natural history, and kids will get a kick out of the local wildlife displays –  especially the memorialized fight to the death between Zulu and Big George. The alligator and crocodile were once residents of the nature park, until one broke into the cage of the other late one memorable night.

The Timucuan Indians thrived at Silver Springs until the arrival of the Europeans in1513 (Ocali is a Timucuan name for a local village.) By 1760, most of the tribe had fallen victim to exotic diseases or killed. The remaining Timucuans assimilated with the Creeks from Alabama and Georgia, eventually combining with other groups to become the Seminoles.

One of the museum’s treasures is a bronze Spanish mission bell that dates to the mid 1600s, when three Franciscan missions were located in the area before being abandoned in a Timucuan uprising. The bell was part of the San Luis de Ocali mission and was recovered from the Ocklawaha River in the 1960s.

The region saw more bloodshed during the Seminole Wars from 1835-1842, the bloodiest and costliest Indian war in American history. Numerous artifacts from local forts, including Fort King, are on display, along with a howitzer from Dickison’s cavalry unit which saw action during the Civil War at the nearby Marshall Plantation.

When the Civil War ended, veterans returned to start life over again. Orange groves were established. The lumber industry  blossomed, making business out of the cypress stands in the swamplands along the Ocklawaha. But a tour of the homestead artifacts from the Reconstruction period paint a picture of a hard life. A period village has been recreated on the grounds of the Silver River State Park, and each November it comes to life with re-enactors during  Ocali Country Days.

From Paddle-Wheel Steamers to Glass Bottom Boats

The first genuine tourists came to Silver Springs by paddle boat in the 1850s, starting their journey in Palatka on the St. Johns River and then snaking their way up the winding Ocklawaha River to the Silver River and finally Silver Springs.

Paddle-Wheel Steam Boat on the Silver River

“What the Pyramids are to Egypt, so are the ROMANTIC, MYSTERIOUS, MIRROR WATERS of the Ocklawaha River and Silver Springs to Florida,” boasted one advertisement of the period. In fact, “going to Florida without visiting the Ocklawaha would be like visiting Egypt without seeing the Pyramids.”

During the Civil War, Hubbard Hart, a native of Vermont  turned his paddle boat enterprise from tourist expeditions to supplying sugar cane and oranges for Confederate troops. Replicas of his boats, along with “The Marion,” a 78-foot boat run by Henry Gray are on display.

Visitors of the day didn’t merely settle for lush scenery, delicious oranges or the sight of exotic wildlife  –  they also shot at the animals from the decks as they passed by and tossed their empty beer bottles overboard. (In time, their litter has transformed itself into historical artifacts.) An $18 ticket for three first-class passengers cost $18 with meals provided.

When railroads arrived in the 1880s, the era of the steamboats began its decline, and by the 1920s the paddle boats had gone silent. But tourism continued to flourish.

Early visitors to the spring got a glimpse of the wonders beneath the surface by peering through a bucket with a glass bottom. In the late 1800s, entrepreneurs borrowed a design used at California’s Catalina Island and began giving tours in glass-bottom boats. Between the 1920s and 1960s a Seminole Village near the present-day attraction drew the tourists from around the nation to see the famous tribe, who had commercialized their native lifestyle as a source of income.

For years the park was world renowned for Ross Allen’s Reptile Institute, with its world-renowned herpetologist and sometimes co-host with Marlin Perkins. Allen’s snake bite boots, his trademark safari jacket, a few tins of canned rattlesnake meat — even a plaster cast of his thumb! — all highlight the region’s most colorful period. These were the days when the souvenir stand was stocked with snake bit kits and lizard skins, as well as the shellacked alligator heads that are still probably the most common tourist trinkets sold in Florida.

Those days are also memorialized by Hollywood, which has used the crystal-clear Silver Springs as an underwater location for nearly a hundred years, beginning with the Seven Swans which was filmed here in 1916. The park served as the set for several Tarzan films starring Johnny Weissmuller. Other movie credits include The Creature from the Black Lagoon and The Yearling. James Bond has been a frequent visitor, and portions of Thunderball, Moonraker and Never Say Never Again were all filmed here.

The movie days are will represented in the museum. Much in that period owes a debt of gratitude to Ocala photographer Bruce Mozert, whose ingenious underwater camera housing (on display) was a great leap forward in underwater photography.

Silver River Museum Information

The Silver River Museum is located in the 5,000-acre Silver River State Park just east of Ocala. Open weekends from 9 to 5, and weekdays during June, July and most holidays. Admission is $6 per car to get into the State Park and $2 for the museum. The address is 1445 NE 58th Ave., Ocala FL 34470. Phone: (352) 236-5401. Website: http://www.silverrivermuseum.com.

Ocala Lodging Options: Planning to stay overnight? Good nearby options include the new Holiday Inn Express — (352) 304-6111; or the Wilderness RV Park Estates — (352) 625-1122. Or click here for camping and cabin rentals.

Cooling off for the day near High Springs at Poe Springs Park.

HIGH SPRINGS, FL — Looking for a great place to cool down as the weather heats up?  Why not head to High Springs, Florida?  After a morning of shopping for crafts and antiques in the historic downtown, you can spend the afternoon at one of several parks along the scenic Santa Fe River. Here’s a sampling of the outdoor opportunities in the area:

Take a Plunge in Poe Springs

If you’re looking for a quick dip and a picnic lunch, try Poe Springs Park. Poe Springs is one of the largest boasts of the largest spring in the county, which generates about 45 million gallons of water a day. A scenic boardwalk meanders through a cypress forest to one of the most attractive swimming holes in the vicinity. A sandy beach has been added on one side of the spring — the other has been left untouched. A day trip to the park offers something for the family and all the kids — including fishing, kayaking, canoeing, tubing, swimming, hiking a playground and more. Poe Springs Park also offers canoe rentals, a boat launch, camping and hiking.

Poe Springs Park is located three miles west of High Springs on County Road 340 ( 28800 NW 182nd Ave., High Springs, FL 32643). Phone: (386) 454-1992. The park is open daily 9 a.m. till dusk except New Year’s Even and Christmas Day. Admission is $5 per person, but free for children 4 and under. Canoe and kayak rentals are $20.00 for two hours and $40.00 for a full day. Tube rentals are $10.00 for the day.

1, Hike the Santa Fe River

The Santa Fe River takes an unusual turn at O’Leno State Park, where it disappears underground for three miles. But it doesn’t vanish without a clue: the landscape is marked by a series of narrow sinks that connect to the river below. The trails that criss-cross this “natural bridge” are great for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding.

O'Leno State Park offers scenic hiking trails along the Santa Fe River.

O’Leno State Park is located 6 miles north of High Springs on U.S. 441. Open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Admission fee is $5 per vehicle (up to 8 people). Canoe and kayak rentals cost $3 an hour or $15 a day. Campsites are $18 per night including water and electricity. Cabins and pavilions are also available. For information, call (386) 454-1853.

2. Go Tubing at Ichetucknee Springs

Tired of swimming against the current? At Ichetucknee Springs, most folks like to go with the flow. Grab an inner tube at a nearby vendor and float downstream along the Ichetucknee River, which merges with the Santa Fe River in six miles. Until Memorial Day weekend, only a short tubing trip of a mile and a half is available at the south entrance. During the summer, you can also take a longer run of 3 1/2 miles beginning at the north entrance.

This hugely popular summer activity draws large weekend crowds, and only 750 people are allowed to take the trip from the north entrance. Plan on arriving at 8 a.m. to get a spot, or take the shorter run at the south entrance which is open to 2250 people daily.

Ichetucknee Springs State Park is located four miles northwest of Fort White, off State Road 47 and 238. Open daily from 8 a.m. to sunset. Admission is $6 per vehicle for general admission, or $5 or $6  per person for river use depending on the season and entrance. The season for both the north and south entrances begins the Saturday before Memorial Day through Labor Day.  The off season at the south entrance is from the Tuesday after Labor day through the Friday before Memorial day. Tube rentals are available at concession areas outside the park. For more information, call the state park at (386) 497-4690.

3. Try Cave Diving at Ginnie Springs

Interested in going a little deeper? Ginnie Springs Resort is the most popular spot in the area for snorkeling and scuba diving. A full-service diving operation offers equipment rentals and instruction. A one-hour inner tube ride is also available.$

Ginnie Springs Resort is located west of High Springs on County Road 340. General admission is$12.00 for adults, $3 for children ages 7-14. Scuba admission is $22 to $30 a day. Mask, snorkel & fins cost $5. Diving classes are offered daily, including a four-day certification course that runs between $175 to $425, including equipment. A one day “scuba experience” costs $99. Reservations for classes are required: Call (386) 454-7188.

Tubing the Rainbow River

They say that any dead fish can float downstream. But so what? If we discovered a live fish that managed to float downstream of its own volition, choosing the simple pleasure of idleness on a sunny afternoon above the sisyphean drudgery of fighting the ceaseless current, we’d applaud that fish as a first-rate existentialist. That fish would be cheered, not jeered.

Away, then, with the petty morality of those petulant scolds whose scruples are offended by going with the flow! Let them stay at home and toil in the yard on a sun-burned summer day (or fight the lines at some overstuffed Orlando theme park). We’re going to rent an inner tube to float down the refreshing, stunningly beautiful Rainbow River in Dunnellon. There may be no more relaxing day trip in central Florida. There’s certainly no better way to protest the sort of restless vacation that is bought on credit and frenetically consumed as if it were a Burger King Triple Whopper Combo.

We are not monks and we won’t be communing with nature in solitude. We’ll be surrounded by noisy children, teenage slackers, feckless European tourists, assorted rednecks, pallid overweight travel writers, and the apparently unemployed. We’ll be in the company of the great masses, yes, but not the great unwashed. Here we’re all baptized in water as clear and clean as the soul of Mother Theresa. There is no rank or distinction among us as together we’re swept by the inevitable tide of events to the same destination. As in life itself, we’re all in this trip together.

Tubers on the Rainbow River

There are other choices we could make. We could rent a pontoon boat and stand aloof from the stream of human flotsam. Steering a pontoon boat, we can agree, has all the advantages of sitting at home on the couch — yet with the added pleasure of more vibrant scenery. Still, driving an internal combustion engine seems just too industrious for our purposes today.

But why not kayak or canoe the Rainbow River? Here’s why: In theological terms, kayaking seeks beauty and redemption through the merit of our own effort; tubing is all about sola gratia. In the vernacular of the damp evangelicals floating around us, today we will “let and let God.”  And as we float downstream in grateful submission to the laws of nature, we’ll be carried along by regenerative water that springs up from the center of the world as if it were the mysterious River of Life itself.

Tubing is nothing if not an expression of joyful humility, a simple acknowledgment of our place in the universe. Tubing accepts without protest that our free will and experience of control is largely illusory. Kicking against the current is not an option today. Who can seriously argue for the Will to Power while wearing garish plastic shoes, sipping sweet tea from a plastic bottle and sitting on an inflatable plastic donut?

No, today we are mystics. We are finding rapture in letting go and looking up. Overhead, leaning back against the inner tube, we’ll enjoy the crisp blue of heaven itself, fringed with white. We’ll pass through wild, primeval forests — perhaps contemplating the mystery of evil as we pass over submerged labyrinths wherein lurk monstrous reptiles with teeth like razors and jaws of steel. (My sister asks me, “Aren’t you afraid of alligators?” Of course I’m afraid of alligators, silly woman!) But then we’ll drift some more and float past manicured lawns, lazy boat docks, and somnolent residents dressing and keeping their gardens.

Everyone looks ridiculous in a face mask, but we are philosophers today and we’ve drifted beyond pride. Small price to pay, too, since it gives us a clear view of the world below: ribbons of water grass dancing in the current; ancient limestone caverns both dark and foreboding; largemouth bass too dumb to float downstream; the astonishing site of our own bare feet and waterlogged toes, magnified by the magic of water.

Today we’ll take a deep breath and admit that we’re floating along in the tide of history, adrift in a stream of circumstances outside of our control. This is humility. This is wisdom. The time may indeed come for kicking against the current. Monday, perhaps. Meantime, we’re going with the flow.

This Just In: Tubing Burns Calories!

According to a June 21 article in the venerable Wall Street Journal, the average 150-pound person will burn 78 calories after 30 minutes of tubing. Moderate kayaking burns more than twice that, coming in at 170 calories. Which is better for your health? The answer is clear: Skip the the measly half our of kayaking and go tubing for an hour and a half instead!

Rainbow River Tubing Information:

In the words of contemporary thinker David Byrne: “You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?” The answer here is simple enough: You took the Rainbow Springs State Park Tubing Entrance (not the Head Spring Entrance) just north of Highway 484 in Dunnellon. The state park offers a convenient shuttle service and tube rental. The cost is $5.00 per vehicle (up to 8 people.) The park operates a tram that takes you upstream for the beginning of the run. The cost is $10 per person (with tube rental) or $8 if you bring your own tube. The state park is open 8 a.m. to sunset 365 days a year.

Watch the weather. A sweltering afternoon is a great time for tubing the Rainbow River, but it’s also the season for afternoon thunderstorms. The shuttle won’t operate during periods of lightning activity, but if you’re already on the water your options are severely limited and trespassers are not welcome along the residential portions of the river.

Rainbow Springs State Park
19158 S.W. 81st Place Road
Dunnellon, FL 34432
(352) 465-8555

Tubing is also available at K.P. Hole County Park, also open daily year-round. The park is located a mile and a half south of Rainbow Springs State Park. The entrance fee is $3.00 per person, and $9.00 for a tube rental (additional cost for shuttle.)

KP Hole Park
9435 SW 190th Ave. Road
Dunnellon, FL 34432
(352) 489-3055

Manatee Springs State Park has been a natural tourist attraction since the days of William Bartram.

CHIEFLAND, FL — When naturalist William Bartram visited Manatee Springs in the  late 1700s, he said the place was astonishing: “This charming nymphaeum is the product of primitive nature, not to be imitated, much less equaled, by the united effort of human power and ingenuity!”

Two centuries later, much of that beauty remains. “Two hundred years is not very long for nature” said Bill Maphis, who was the park manager. “The same basic features are here, with the exception of the concrete to provide the visitor access to the water.”

The West Indian Manatees, after which the park was named, are frequent visitors, with more than a hundred manatee sightings per year.

Manatee Springs “is the first feeding station on the Suwannee River. The manatees come 23 miles inland from the gulf, and this is the first warm spring with a food supply,” Maphis said. Tannic acid, which darkens the Suwannee for much of the year, stunts the growth of the aquatic plants on which the manatee feed, he says. The result is that by the time the manatees reach the spring, they need the food and the rest.

When manatees enter the swimming area, people are asked to leave the water. “The animal is not dangerous to people, but if people were to stay in the area, the animal would learn bad habits,” Maphis said. A similar policy is in place at Blue Spring State Park. (But read here for information on manatee swimming tours.)

Early inhabitants of the region used to eat manatees. “What do manatees taste like?” It’s not merely a joke: William Bartram wrote “The flesh of this creature is counted wholesome and pleasant food; the Indians call them by a name which signifies the big beaver.”

A Florida Manatee surfaces in one of Florida's first magnitude springs.

The earliest known residents of Manatee Springs were the Timucuan Indians. “The whole picnic area was a Timucuan Indian village site,” Maphis said. They chose the site because “it provided access to Suwannee river for transportation. It also provided plenty of fresh water that was clean. In addition to that it provided a food supply.”

“The spring has been used by everybody when they came along, it doesn’t matter who,” Maphis said. “It was just one of those places that attracted people.”

Manatee is one of Florida’s first-magnitude springs, and it produces 117 million gallons of water a day at a constant 72 degrees. (Other first magnitude springs include Alexander Springs,  Silver Glen Springs, Wakulla Springs and Blue Spring.) “The ebullition is astonishing, and continual,” Bartram wrote.

The spring and its underwater caverns have become a popular scuba diving location. “The cave is larger than most of the others in the area,” Maphis said. “Two or three divers can swim side by side.” Proper certification is required for both open diving and cave diving, and divers have been killed in caves. (To explore one of Florida’s best dry caves, try Florida Caverns State Park.)

In addition to scuba diving, the state park offers swimming, canoeing, camping and hiking. A raised boardwalk follows the swamp at the edge of the spring run to the Suwannee River. Below, the crystal-clear swamp teams with plants and animals.

Bartram loved watching the fish: “It is amazing and almost incredible, what troops and bands of fish and other watery inhabitants are now in sight, all peaceable; and in what variety of gay colours and forms, continually ascending and descending, roving and figuring amongst one another, yet every tribe associating separately.”

Birds also flock to the Manatee Springs. Summer visitors might spot a Limpkin searching for the eggs of apple snails, or perhaps a Swallow-tailed or Mississippi Kite. Bartram said the area provided so many “amusing subjects of inquiry” that he decided to stay for the entire day. Today’s visitors will likely find the same thing.

Manatee Springs State Park Info:

The park is located just north of Chiefland on US 19. It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. From Ocala, take Highway 27 north to Alt 27 north. It’s about an hour and a half drive. Park activities include snorkeling and scuba diving (including cave diving), and an 8.5-mile network of hiking trails. 100 campsites are available. For information, call (352) 493-6072.

Canoeing Alexander Springs in the Ocala National Forest

You won’t be the first to discover the delightful swimming hole at Alexander Springs. People have been enjoying this idyllic and refreshing spring form at least 10,000 years. Its ancient residents, the Timucuan Indians, enjoyed the springs for the same reason people go today: “It was a place where they would go swimming and recreate,” said ranger Jim Thorsen.

Alexander is one of Florida’s 27 “first-magnitude” springs, each of which produce mor than 64.6 million gallons of water a day. (Nearby Silver Glen Springs is another, along with Manatee Springs near Chiefland.) Alexander Springs (ranked 23rd) discharges 80 million gallons a day, according to Thorsen.

Archaeologists have discovered numerous artifacts near the springs, including pottery, bows, even an ancient stew. Its ingredients included fresh water snails, mussels, gar fish, catfish, speckled perch, largemouth bass, turtle, bird, white-tailed deer and palmetto berries.

Hiking the Nature Trail at Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest

Today the picnic area is on the site of a “shell mitten,” Thorsen said. “It’s a large mound of shells and crayfish. That was the diet of the Timucuan Indians.”

How Alexander Springs got its name is a mystery. “Nobody really knows the answer,” Thorsen said. “It was probably named after a person when the forest was created in 1908.”

The nearby Billies Bay Wilderness, however, “was named after a person who was half Seminole Indian and half caucasian,” Thorsen said. “He used to be a renegade who went in there to hide. His name was Billy Bowleg something.”

Alexander’s 1-mile Timucuan Nature Trail loops through four distinct environments common to Ocala National Forest: aquatic, swamp, Oak Hammock and Sand Pine Scrub. Along the way, informational signs describe the plants as they were used by Timucuan Indians. Much of the trail is on elevated boardwalks, and two observation platforms offer fishing and a good view of Alexander Creek.

The large swimming area feels more natural than the developed site at Juniper Springs. There’s more water, too. Juniper Springs discharges only a fourth the amount of water as Alexander Springs. The 28-foot pool at the head of the spring is a favorite spot for scuba divers.

Alexander Springs Recreation Area Info:

From Ocala, take Highway 40 to Astor Park, then take Highway 445 south for five and a half miles. Canoes can be rented for a 7-mile run along Alexander Creek (with a free pickup) or for as little as two hours. The 67-unit campground, accessible to the handicapped, is open year-round. The park is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, except for overnight campers. Features: Camping, picnicking, hiking, swimming, scuba diving, canoeing and kayaking.  Contact: (352) 669-3522

Silver Glen Springs in the Ocala National Forest

If you can manage to get the place to yourself — and it is possible, but not on busy weekends or holidays — there are few better places to enjoy the unspoiled beauty of Ocala National Forest than Silver Glen Springs.

From the comfortable lawn surrounding the spring, under a gentle shade of Spanish moss, you can watch the spring boil up silently from the Florida Aquifer. Seventy-two million gallons a day erupt from the spring and spread out into a transparent underwater meadow teeming with fish. The limestone pool, about 200 feet across, is the color of pale emeralds, accented by abstract swaths of water grass.

Silver Glen, along with nearby Alexander Springs,  is one of Florida’s 33 first-magnitude springs. It is larger than both Juniper Springs and Salt Springs.

A little blue heron may patrol the hyacinth looking for a quick meal, while great blues stand sentry farther off in the shadows. Cormorants and anhingas stretch their wings on the buoys, soaking up the afternoon sun.

“People tend to think there isn’t much to see in the winter time,” said Jerry Clutts, back when he was Lake George District Ranger. “But there are quite a few fish seeking warm water, stripped bass even some saltwater species that come up from the St John’s–some rays and some groupers.” Bald eagles, as well as many other birds, are also seen at the park.

The site is surrounded by an Indian shell mound and has been a popular swimming hole for at least 7,000 years. A small collection of artifacts from the site is on display at the Ocala Public Library. “The whole area around the spring apparently at one time was a shell mound,” Clutts said. “But a lot of it was been excavated years ago. [The shells were] taken and used for road surfacing. A lot of the area has been disturbed.”

In recent years a hiking trail has been added that takes you along a three-mile round trip to a bluff along Lake George.  The trail begins near where a historic Timucuan village once existed and follows the spring run to one of Florida’s largest lakes. Watch for alligators along the way.

If quiet solitude isn’t your aim, you’ll have plenty of company on weekends and holidays. Boating traffic along the half-mile spring run might be the Ocala National Forest’s equivalent of Daytona Break during spring break. If you like a crowd, you’ll be in luck. If not, you’ll want to wait for the mid-week or off season to enjoy the tranquility of this scenic gem.

Silver Glen Springs from Jamie Hellmich on Vimeo.

Silver Glen Springs Info

Silver Glen Springs is located near Lake George on Highway 19, six miles north of SR 40 in Ocala National Forest. Activities include boating, fishing, picnicking, swimming and snorkeling. Camping is not permitted. (But read here for a list of Ocala National Forest Campgrounds.) The park is open daily 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with canoe rentals available on site from $16 to $38 (full day).  Free kayak launching. Day use fee is $5.50 per person. Snorkeling, but not SCUBA, is permitted.

A single annual pass ($60 per person) gets you into several Ocala National Forest recreation areas, including Juniper Springs, Salt Springs, Clearwater Lake, Wildcat Lake, Alexander Springs and Silver Glen Springs. For information, call 352-236-0288

Pancake breakfast at DeLeon Springs' Old Spanish Mill.

Not sure if this is how it worked for Ponce De Leon, but here’s another refreshing and youthful way to enjoy a hot summer day in central Florida:

Start off the morning with hot pancakes at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill at DeLeon Springs State Park in Deland, Florida. The kids (and the kid in you) will love them, and it’s an adventure since you get to make them at your own table. For an old fashioned taste you won’t find at any IHOP, try the stone ground pancake mix and top it off with some thick black molasses. Or mix and match with an assortment of fruit and candy toppings to invent a pancake that’s uniquely your own.

This historic DeLeon Springs sugar mill dates back to the early 1800s plantation era. It was the site of skirmishes during the Second Seminole War and supplied confederate troops during the Civil War. Some of the historic mill machinery is located around back, along with some well designed historic panels.

In the late 1800′s the plantation turned to developing a good crop of tourists by billing itself as a health resort, and the architecture of the old inn and casino (now the bath house) dates from the 1920s. Promotional literature promised “a fountain of youth impregnated with a deliciously healthy combination of soda and sulphur.”

Historic DeLeon Springs was once a turn-of-the-century health spa.

Hard to imagine now, but the resort was once the winter home of the Clyde Beatty Circus and had hosted jungle cruises and a circus featuring an elephant on water skis. Some fascinating memorabilia is on view in the park museum.

Stuff yourself good, then take a nature walk through the nearby forest or rent a kayak, canoe or paddleboat and tour the Spring Garden Run into the Woodruff Federal Wildlife Refuge. This scenic area is full of wildlife, and it was inhabited by native Americans as long as 6,000 years ago. Make sure you work up a good sweat.

Then wait until the day heats up to about 95 degrees and the humidity becomes stifling. Hold on until you can’t stand it anymore.

Now change into your swimsuit and walk around to the deep end of the spring, which as been corralled into a large community swimming area. Don’t dip your toe in the water. Just dive in without a thought.

From the crushing midday heat you’ll crash into a wall of 72 degree water, and in an instant, a fraction of a second, you’ll have left the summer heat behind. If the heat had previously sapped your energy and enthusiasm, now you’ll find yourself alive and awake.

Fountain of Youth? You betcha!

DeLeon Springs State Park Info:

Directions: DeLeon Springs is located six miles north of DeLand, Florida on Highway 17. Google Map.

The park is open 8 a.m. until sundown year round. The Old Spanish Sugar Mill restaurant is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Fees: Entrance fee is $6.00 per vehicle, with 2-8 people or $4.00 for single occupant vehicles and $2.00 for pedestrians and others.  Picnic pavilions can be rented for $45.00 per day (small) or $75.00 per day (large).

More Park Information:

601 Ponce DeLeon Blvd./PO Box 1338
DeLeon Springs, Florida 32130
Phone: 386-985-4212