While my family and I were in West Volusia County we made it a point to go to Blue Spring State Park, a great place to enjoy nature, create memories and cool off from the Florida heat.
The Blue Spring State Park is a designated Manatee Refuge that covers more than 2,600 acres, including the largest spring on the St. Johns River. We were hoping to see a manatee but the closest we came to one, was the manatee statue.
The spring serves as a lazy river, you can start on one end and then float your way on down (you can repeat that process as many time as you’d like).
In addition to using floats (which you can bring or rent), you can also swim, snorkel (because you can see fish in the water).
There is also another area of the spring where you can sit back and relax, almost like a pool that’s located at the start of the “lazy river”. The water is 73 degrees and while it was very cold for me (at first), my hubby LOVED it! Once I was in, it felt amazing.
The river is also popular for fishing, canoeing, kayaking and boating (but that is in a different part of the park). If you choose to not enjoy the spring, there’s also a playground, an area to lay out and relax or you can take a river boat cruise.
Blue Spring State Park is definitely worth checking out and when you do, here are some tips that may help you “save” Money, Sanity & Time:
- Arrive there as early possible, especially on a Holiday weekend. They open their gates at 8…we were there by 9:30 and they were already at capacity. If that does happen, you can always come back later.
- While they do offer food and there are snacks and drinks available in the store, you can bring your own food and drinks.
- You should definitely bring your own towels and beach chairs if you plan on hanging around.
- Don’t worry about leaving your valuable items unattended if you all happen to be in the water at the same time (like what we did), they have small and larger size lockers available for rent.
- You should bring your own floatation device BUT you can also rent them out if you need to. Plus, they sell them there as well.
- Bring water shoes, especially if you plan on standing in the water like my hubby did to steer all the floats.
It looks like fun. When it’s hot outside I love being in the water.
Thanks for the review. We are going in a few weeks plus we’re camping. I would love to know…did you rent the floats shown on the pics? Im allergic to latex to im thinking of buying some but they ones you were on look like vinyl. Also my DS is little so im thinking of buying him one with a mesh bottom so he can stay on better. Did you happen to notice if they have smaller tubes or ones with bottoms?
thanks in advance.
Hi Gina! They have various ones available for rent and for sale at their store. I saw various ones out there so you should be fine. Hope you have a wonderful time! Let us know how it goes 🙂
Hi again…forgot to ask. Did you notice if there were any type of restrictions as to what kind of floating device you can bring? Thanks again!