Wakulla Springs

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blog 02-03-20 Wakulla Springs

The weather forecast is bleak later in the week so now is the time to get to the places I wanted to visit.

Wakulla Springs has been inhabited by humans for nearly 15,000 yrs starting with Paleo-Indian times. The spring is a first magnitude spring with a flow of 200-300 Million gallons per day and forms the Wakulla River. It was once so clear that glass bottom boats were a regular attraction but now the waters are too cloudy to see more than 20 ft. below. The water flows from a cave connected to the FL aquifer system and 190 ft into that cave mastodon bones have been seen.

The spring was purchased by Edward Bell in 1934 and developed as an attraction focusing on the preservation of wildlife and surrounding habitat. He built a lodge, an excellent example of Mediterranean Revival architecture, that is still used today. picture

I took the river tour boat for a short ride down the river. It is run by the park service and great care has been taken to lower it's impact on the river and surrounding area. They use electric motors, run by solar panels on the roof, with shields to protect manatees which frequent the spring. We saw beautiful Cyprus trees, about 24 alligators, coots, common Galilean, hooded merganser, grebe, snowy egret, oh the list goes on. I'll let the pictures show you. The most unusual was a yellow crowned night heron.

When I got back to the campground it was time to sit in the sun and enjoy the scenery. My neighbors were doing the same thing so we spent the next hour or so enjoying together.

After a nice walk it was time for dinner and inside time.

The temps were from 48 this morning to 78 in the mid afternoon with brilliant sunshine, great weather

Please click on the pictures so you get a better view and more details.

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