Day Trip to a Spring?

[jsmla]

We’re looking for a few day trips to take while we’re at OKW in early July. I’ve already planned a trip to Canaveral National Seashore and we were thinking about visiting one of the prints in the area. We’d like to be able to rent a canoe if possible bit don’t really need other facilities like a dedicated swimming area or food service. We’ll be fairly strict with social distancing and don’t mind a bit of a drive if that means lower crowds.

Not looking for anything on the Gulf. We usually go multiple times a year for long weekends and are looking for something different.

Thanks!

 

[easyas123]

We went to a place north of Orlando about 25 years ago - 7 Springs? It was a sort of wildlife area/boating over some springs areas???I'm trying to recall. Maybe that is still there?

 

[dwheatl]

I don't know if this is uncrowded or not, but we visited here a few years ago.
https://silversprings.com/about-the-park/

 

[NoLessDisney]

I can't recall exactly how far it is from Orlando area, but there is a very nice state park called Blue Springs where you can see manatees. It's been years since we went, but I still remember how pleasant it was.

 

[easyas123]

I don't know if this is uncrowded or not, but we visited here a few years ago.
https://silversprings.com/about-the-park/

Silver Springs! That was it-

 

[hertamaniac]

I snorkel in our local springs. Some have river runs and at least one of them has a good chance of seeing alligators. Does that concern you?

 

[JaxDad]

Wekiwa Springs State Park is just north of Orlando. I have not been in several years but remember doing some nice canoeing there.

https://www.floridastateparks.org/parks-and-trails/wekiwa-springs-state-park
Our go-to spring is the Ichetucknee, but that's probably too far for a comfortable day trip from Orlando.

 

[BarlowFamily]

We went to Blue Springs State Park last week and loved it. You can snorkel, rent kayaks and canoes, walk some trails...we had a great day!

 

[KristinU]

I snorkel in our local springs. Some have river runs and at least one of them has a good chance of seeing alligators. Does that concern you?

Maybe a little off topic, but as a northerner, seeing alligators in the wild while doing water activities does scare me. I've seen them when on hiking trails in FL state parks, which isn't terribly scary since I've been able to keep a distance, but the thought of being in/near the water with them wigs me out. We went to SC last spring on vacation and didn't get around to renting kayaks for exploring the waterways, but that was something I was interested in, yet concerned about. Any tips or resources on how to handle situations and safe distances, etc? Now that I think about it, I have been kayaking in FL a couple of times to see manatees near my parents house in Ft. Myers, but I hadn't even thought of gators...

 

[hertamaniac]

Maybe a little off topic, but as a northerner, seeing alligators in the wild while doing water activities does scare me. I've seen them when on hiking trails in FL state parks, which isn't terribly scary since I've been able to keep a distance, but the thought of being in/near the water with them wigs me out. We went to SC last spring on vacation and didn't get around to renting kayaks for exploring the waterways, but that was something I was interested in, yet concerned about. Any tips or resources on how to handle situations and safe distances, etc? Now that I think about it, I have been kayaking in FL a couple of times to see manatees near my parents house in Ft. Myers, but I hadn't even thought of gators...

I really don't have tips other than stay in a group and in the public areas on the waterways. The gators that I have seen while snorkeling stay on the banks.

 

[Lizgistix]

I've heard about bioluminescence kayak tours somewhere on the east coast of Florida.

 

[bearzabout]

The Crystal River area is a great place to rent canoes.

A snorkeler was killed by a gator at Blue Springs in 2015, so be careful in the water.

 

[JaxDad]

Maybe a little off topic, but as a northerner, seeing alligators in the wild while doing water activities does scare me. I've seen them when on hiking trails in FL state parks, which isn't terribly scary since I've been able to keep a distance, but the thought of being in/near the water with them wigs me out. We went to SC last spring on vacation and didn't get around to renting kayaks for exploring the waterways, but that was something I was interested in, yet concerned about. Any tips or resources on how to handle situations and safe distances, etc? Now that I think about it, I have been kayaking in FL a couple of times to see manatees near my parents house in Ft. Myers, but I hadn't even thought of gators...

I spent a lot of time wading around Florida wetlands as part of my Masters thesis work. I saw a lot of alligators, and it was always scary. I remember one time I was waist deep in water, and a couple babies suddenly showed up next to me. I freaked out and started looking around for the mother. I don't even know if works like with bears, but I knew I didn't want to be between those babies and her! The absolutely most scary moment though was when we were hauling equipment from a wetland back to our truck and came right up on a big rattlesnake. We dropped our stuff and booked back down the trail.

 

[jsmla]

We went to Blue Springs State Park last week and loved it. You can snorkel, rent kayaks and canoes, walk some trails...we had a great day!

We really like Blue Spring-was it very busy when you were there?

 

[jsmla]

Thanks everyone! We’re fine with gators. I grew up on the bayou next to the Atchafalaya Basin and we had them in our yard fairly often.

This was taken a couple of weeks ago not too far from our house:

 

[BarlowFamily]

We really like Blue Spring-was it very busy when you were there?

First, love your Gator pic! My DS5 would be so excited! We saw a few on Hilton Head Island, he just loves them. Thankfully we did not see any at Blue Spring. And no, it wasn't very crowded. I had read that they can reach capacity and turn cars away. So we "planned" on getting up early to go...but I couldn't get the two teenagers out of bed. We arrived around 11am and had no problem getting in or parking. A bad storm came in that afternoon, maybe that kept folks home. We enjoyed the sunshine and the water and left once it started storming. A local had recommended not trying on a Saturday, being a weekday may have helped too.