The James N Watts Guide To Swimming in Florida Springs

Top 5 Swimming Holes For Real Gator Girls and Manatee Mommies

It wasn’t until I moved to Tallahassee, Florida that I understood the wild natural beauty of Northern Florida. Despite having parents who are from this part of the world, I, like many people, was only aware of the beaches and theme parks of Florida. Covid hit during my Masters at Florida State University, and I took the opportunity to start visiting the parks around me, starting with Wakulla Springs State Park, just thirty minutes away from my apartment. When I realized I had been living a stones throw from such extreme natural beauty, the largest freshwater spring on earth by some metrics, I felt ashamed that it had taken me so long to get out there. I spent an entire year living in Tallahassee purely focused on school when I could have been swimming with mullet and manatee. With the remainder of my degree largely online, I was able to get my priorities in order (one of my friends recently sent me a video reminding me of the time I attended class via zoom on my phone at a spring) and spent two more years living in Florida where I swam in dozens of springs across the Northern half of the state. Earlier this Summer I asked my friends, “should we road trip to the springs in September?” and they immediately agreed, I write to you now having been home for less than twelve hours from said road trip, spring water still actively sloshing around my cranium. Here are my top Florida spring recommendations:

Preface

Thinking of journeying to Northern Florida to swim in the beautiful mountain dew baja blast hued waters of the springs? Here’s what you need to know first:

• The water is cold (to most people). Spring water is a constant, year round 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit, which may not mean anything to you, but it’s a little chilly.

• Most springs are far from civilization. You will need a car, and you will need to be prepared to drive a few hours. The springs are mostly secreted away in wild jungles.

• There are alligators in all bodies of water in Florida, they will only bite you if you are gay and annoying, pick one, they’ve made an exception for me.

• September and April are the best months for a Florida trip. The weather is hot, the kids are in school.

With these points in mind, here are my top five springs:

1. Wakulla Springs

Wakulla springs is so special to me. It was my first Florida spring experience. It’s huge with a lot of area to swim. A fun dive tower with two levels to jump from. You can almost always spot a manatee here. There is a boat tour (book online before you come) that offers views of untouched Florida unlike anything else, sometimes your tour is led by ranger Collin who brings a guitar and sings an original song about Wakulla springs to start the tour. There is a 100 year old lodge on the property where you can stay, where there is also a good restaurant, an ice cream parlor, and a decently swaggy gift shop.

2. Alexander Springs

My favorite thing to do at the springs is put on my corrective-lensed-goggles, take a deep breath, and swim underwater as deep as possible, LARPing a fish and taking in the sights before I start to feel panicked and swim back to the surface as fast as I can, repeating this process ad nauseum. Alexander Springs is my top underwater swimming spot. The water is so clear and blue, the vent from whence the spring water flows is deep below the surface and the topography of the spring bed is so varied and beautiful, great for pretending I’m a fish. Another huge point in favor of Alexander is that I almost always spot families of RIVER OTTERS swimming, playing, hunting, chirping and just being as cute as possible.

3. Madison Blue Springs

Madison Blue is shaped like a big bowl, surrounded by gorge-like rocky walls containing clear blue-raspberry-looking forbidden soup (spring water). You can swim nice and deep and look into the vent where the water comes out. This is a popular cave diving spot (completely psycho hobby to have) so sometimes when you’re swimming a cave diver emerges out of the tiny vent under your feet (((ssSSsSspooky!!!!!!!!!))) The spring has a short and sweet run before joining the Withlacooche river. Its fun to float over the run and let the current sweep you into the river. The confluence of spring and river is otherworldly. Cold glass-clear blue water meets opaque tannic brown river water without mixing much. Visually there is just a clean line between blue water and brown water. It’s fun to go back and forth between the two. My friends call swimming in the river “getting in the hot tub” because it’s so much warmer.

4. Royal Springs

When I visit a spring, the less I can see the touch of mankind, the better. Royal Springs retains a wild and natural feel. There are massive bald cypresses all around the springs, shooting up cypress knees all through the shallow waters. The spring basin is massive and deep, the water has a teal-ish hue. There are plenty of big rocks for sunning yourself on. You also get a hot tub river here should you want it, and you can even rope swing into it. There’s a nice big platform to jump in from. The only downside to Royal Springs is that there is always a minimum of one group of rowdy teenage boys who exist only to dare each other to do the most dangerous shit imaginable so I’m always ready to watch someone potentially get impaled on a cypress knee, hasn’t happened yet.

5. Ichetucknee Springs

Ichetucknee Springs has something none of the other springs I’ve mentioned have: TUBING! The spring run here is long and winding, so you can rent an innertube from the park and spend over an hour floating down a crystal-clear blue-green river unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Then, after relaxing and baking yourself on top of the river, you drive up to the north entrance of the park and get into the spring head for a swim to cool off.

Planning an entire vacation around swimming certainly isn’t for everyone, but if ur a real water lover like myself, this is the trip of a lifetime. If you’re only a medium water lover, or even worse, can’t swim, it’s worth going out of your way even just to look at the springs. Ok, you’re welcome for my expertise, give North Florida a shot, but also maybe don’t tell anyone else about it. Visiting a spring on a weekday morning in September sometimes our group were the only people there at all, and that is a treasure of treasures. Happy swimming, don’t drown.