Be grateful for good friends, the hot sun, and freshwater springs.
My 4th of July was all about discovering aquatic life and freshwater springs. For readers who might be unaware, freshwater springs have crystal clear water. My friends and I decided to visit Ichetucknee Spring State Park and Ginnie Springs in Florida. We indulged ourselves in activities that included tubing downstream river Santa Fe and snorkeling in different springs to get a glimpse of the amazing aquatic life that inhabit these springs. We also saw cracks and holes at the bottom of the springs that are the source of the fresh water and lead to cave systems. You need a scuba diving certification to go down into the caves, which unfortunately I did not have at that time. I plan to get one soon. Florida has many springs to choose from for a summer “cool down” where shimmering shades of aqua blues and emerald greens reflect with dazzling intensity. Florida is blessed with more than 700 springs, the largest collection on earth. From deep within the underground aquifer eight billion gallons of water flow from Florida’s springs each day at a constant 72 ℉.
We drove from Charlotte, NC on 4th of July around 7 am and headed towards Ichetucknee. The drive was 7 hours long. After 6 hours of driving (of which I was sleeping for 5.5 hr 😉 ) we were very hungry but we decided to wait till exit-3 on I-95 because whenever we visit Florida, it’s our tradition to eat at Denny’s diner located off that particular exit. We arrived at Denny’s around 1 pm, and after having sizzling platters and pancake poppers, we headed towards our destination. The Ichetucknee State Park has two entrances—North Entrance and South Entrance. South Entrance includes all the sports activities such as canoeing, tubing, kayaking or paddle boating. We unanimously opted for tubing. Tube rentals are available inside the park itself at the same pricing. You do not need to go through the hassle of carrying the tube from an outside vendor.
The tram of the state park drops you off to the starting point of tubing. There are two-time durations available for tubing–one that lasts forty-five minutes and another that is an hour and a half long. We chose the latter as forty-five minutes seemed too short, and I am sure we made the right decision. While tubing, you can jump down your tube into the spring as well but be careful of the many dead trees in the river. For people who cannot swim, the water is not too deep but still wear a life-jacket for safety. Bring a music system and something to drink and just relax and enjoy the experience. After tubing, we headed towards our Airbnb in Alachua County, FL, beautiful countryside surrounded by wildlife and fields. We saw a family of deers, wild turkeys, and a variety of spiders. At night apart from the singing of crickets and other insects, it was completely silent and pitch-black dark. The only thing missing was a clear sky as that would have given us an opportunity to see various constellations and milky way.
After a nice hot shower, we decided to go to a nice pub for some drinks and food. We drove to Gainsville as it was home to numerous food joints and pubs and was only a thirty minutes drive. We agreed on Durty Nelly’s Irish pub, but when we reached there, we found out that they did not serve food. Luckily we found an amazing Cuban deli right next door, which goes by the name of Flaco’s. It was my first time trying the Cuban food, and I savored the pastries, the arepas, the tacos, and cheese bread. The place is open till 4 am in the morning due to the huge college crowd that comes after the closing of a club right in front of it. After having delicious food at Flacos, we headed again to Durty Nelly’s for some drinks and a few rounds of shooting pool. At around midnight, we headed back to our house.
Next day we all got ready by 9 am in the morning as the weather app showed no rain till 2 pm, so we wanted to make most of it. We headed towards Ginnie Springs. The entrance fee for Ginnie Springs is $15 per person. Once you enter the park, you’ll find a lot of campers, and if you want to camp, then this state park is an excellent option. The Ginnie Springs consists of 5 springs, and you can go kayaking or canoeing in the Santa Fe River. The first thing that we did was to visit the famous Devil’s Eye spring. The Devil’s Eye is home to one of the best cave systems in Florida, and you’ll find scuba divers from all over the world, who are visiting to explore the amazing aquatic life and the beautiful caves. Even if you are not a diver, you can still go near the cave entrance and explore the area around it. The water is fresh and clear as crystal. I think we swam in the spring for approximately 2 hours. After that, we decided to visit the Deer Springs but unfortunately, a thunderstorm forced us to leave the area. We were hungry from all the snorkeling and thus decided to have some food and drove to a Mexican restaurant called El Patio. After our lunch, we reached home around 5 pm and as it was still raining heavily, we spent most of the evening watching Netflix and got take out from a local Chinese restaurant. This experience was quite relaxing too, we watched spiderman-multiverse and had some drinks. We slept around 10 pm and decided to wake up early to make the most of the last day.
On the last day of the trip we visited the Ichetucknee South Entrance which has the Blue Hole spring. It is named Blue Hole because if you hover over the hole, you’ll see a bright blue light coming out from the hole. This spring has various fishes, and the temperature was around 72 ℉. Some people saw an alligator snapping turtle. There is a different trail next to the blue hole trail called Trestle Point trail, which leads to another spring. The water in this spring is quite shallow and you can see a troubling of goldfish. After swimming for about 4 hours, we bid adieu to springs and headed back home.
Happy Travelling!!!
[instagram-feed]