Manatee Springs, FL

August, 2024

We decided we would try something new this time. We haven’t went swimming in a spring, so we thought, why not? It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day. Perfect conditions to give this a try. 😎

Manatee Springs State Park is home to a vital winter refuge for West Indian Manatees. This is one of Florida’s largest freshwater springs. There are hiking trails, canoe and kayak rentals, and super cool freshwater springs. It really is a beautiful area. 😍

There had just been a large amount of rain, so some of the area was a bit flooded. We were fortunate that they had just reopened the springs for swimming on the day we went. 🍀 This is how the flooding still looked in one of the areas:

There were plenty of other people who had the same thoughts as we did, although it wasn’t overly crowded. We joined them on the steps to enter the spring. 💧 Some people chose to rip off the band-aid and dive in off the steps. Yeah, not me, lol. Joe and Luke were the first to take the plunge. Now, you’d think 72 degree water is warm, right? Well, it didn’t feel that way at first, haha. Juliana and I took it one step at a time and gradually made our way into the water. 🤽‍♀️

After we had our fill of floating around and swimming, we thought we’d go for a walk. The paths led into a wooded area that was so beautiful. We walked along Cypress trees, huge saw palmettoes, deer tracks, and a few mosquitoes decided to join us. On our way to the playground, we met some scuba divers that told us all about the underwater caves that connect the springs. It was pretty cool! 🤿

It was a great relaxing day trip and we definitely will be back. But next time we’ll be sure to bring some extra tubes to float along and enjoy the water more. 😉

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