Family BLOG

Blue Springs State Park

     It was a beautiful day yesterday (75 degrees and sunny - just like most days here!) so we decided to take a ride up to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, Florida.  I had called the park and they said there were 122 mantees sighted in the morning, so off we went.  It was about an hour and fifteen minute ride, which was pretty quick considering I-4 almost always has traffic jams, but it was all clear today.

    When we first got there Dave, Kirsten and I went straight to the first water lookout to see if we could spot the manatees.  We didn't see any.  But we did see some large gar fish and lots of little schools of fish, and Kirsten saw tadpoles.  Mark refused to look and sat on the grass moping.  (This trip wasn't his idea - he wanted to stay home and play on the wii.)

     So next we walked along the boardwalk nature trail that leads up to the spring.  I was struck by just how beautiful it all is.  The live oak trees make a lovely canopy and with all the Spanish moss hanging from them, it feels like you are walking through the jungle. The spring itself is crystal clear and produces millions of gallons of water a day.  It is over 110 feet deep, but it sure doesn't look it.  It is striking that there is no vegetation growing anywhere along this tributary.  We learned that is because of the low oxygen content in the water. But the constant 72 degree water temperature makes this an excellent hang-out for the manatee.

     We next went to listen to the ranger program.  Mark was told he had to listen or we would assign him a manatee book to read for school.  He can now recite some manatee facts - to the chagrin of his sister, who wants to be the bearer of all knowledge. 

     So again we went looking for the manatee.  This time we walked down the boardwalk that leads to the St. Johns River.  First we saw an alligator and a LOT more fish.  But then, there they were.  At first we saw only one swimming up towards the spring, but then we looked across the tributary and there were another 5 or 6 of them.  I say five or six because at first I thought one of them was an alligator, but I was wrong.  Since these animals weigh over a thousand pounds (some as much as 2,000 pounds)  I thought they would look huge, but they didn't.  I think because the water was so clear that they were probably down deeper than they appeared and that made them look smaller.  They also were careful to stay on the other side of the river away from the people, probably since the water was deeper on that side.

    There was one mother manatee we saw with her baby next to her floating around, but mostly they just sort of lay down under the water.  They have to leave the spring to find food each day (up to 10% of their body weight means they might have to eat 200 pounds of vegetation) and when they come back they save all their energy for tomorrow by doing absolutely nothing.   There was one manatee that did roll over about a half dozen times, and that was fun to watch.  We believe he was trying to get the fish off that were eating the algae off his back.  But after he found out that that was useless, he just went back to sleep with all of his friends.

     A large plantation-style house that was built in the 1880's by the Thursby's still stands on the property, but unfortunately it was closed.  I can just imagine sitting here on my large front porch along the river in the peace and quiet (before all the thousands of tourists) watching all the birds and animals.  It would have been wonderful - well, except maybe for the alligators.  Just a little taste of a quieter, slower lifestyle.  Who knows, maybe I would have been bored?

     All-in-all we saw probably a dozen manatee and learned a little bit more about them as well as enjoying the natural surroundings.  We saw a beautiful part of Florida that doesn't involve bright-flashing marquees, massive crowds and frustrating traffic jams.  I would say our day away from Kissimmee was a day well spent!