From a plane one can see myriads of lakes, ponds and sloughs glittering in the sun. The rivers are wide and slow. In the south there are the swamps prevailing – Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades. A huge number of canals cut through the country, and with the Intercoastal Waterway, immediately behind the Atlantic coast, the people of Florida have a three-fold beach line. Truly heavenly are the freshwater springs coming right out of the flat ground.

Blue Spring State Park

Half way between Orlando and Daytona lies Orange City with its gushing Blue Spring. Already the brochure of the State Park, a nature conservation area similar to a National Park, promises: “Real Fun in the Real Florida”. However, the State Parks want to dissociate themselves from the entertainment parks à la Disney World or Sea World. It is nature exclusively that is supposed to fascinate the visitors, not artificial worlds with artificial figures. And in Blue Spring, nature is presenting herself most generously and in the most fascinating way. Water, crystal clear, but lacking in oxygen to such an extent that fish can not exist in it, gushes from a crack in the ground.

In thousands of years it has formed a deep round basin with a diameter of about 30 metres. The enormous pressure with which the water rushes upward from the aquifer keeps the water surface of the spring in constant motion. This is where the river Blue Spring Run springs whose water bed will soon be covered with swaying water plants further downstream that enrich the water with oxygen. Soon you will find fish, turtles, alligators and plenty of birds. Swamp cypress, together with palm trees and masses of bush trees give an idea of how paradise must have looked like. After a short run Blue Spring Run joins the slow-flowing Saint John’s River.

The constant water temperature of 22 °C of Blue Spring invites people to swim – a welcome refreshment particularly during the hot and humid summers. From November to March, however, other swimming and diving mammals romp around in the spring: sea cows, or West Indian manatees, to be more precise, which have become very rare. When the gentle giants get too cold in the waters of Saint John’s River they move upstream to Blue Spring. There they can warm up like in a warm room.

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Ocala National Forest

Almost as idyllic as Blue Spring are the Alexander Springs, Juniper Springs and Salt Springs. They are the source of several rivers and lakes supplying a subtropical forest of a total of 1,300 km2 with water – the Ocala National Forest north of Orlando. Horse riders, hikers, campers, fishermen and swimmers are immediately carried back to the days of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Not far off Ocala there is the largest spring in Florida, the Silver Spring, which has a daily output of 2.8 billion litres of water at a pleasant temperature. This spring – obviously – feeds the Silver River. The Indians called it “waters glittering in the sun”. To them the river was holy and at its banks covered with virgin forest the water gods wanted to be venerated.

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Genesis and decline

The area around Crystal River is subject to permanent change. River stretches and islands keep appearing and disappearing. Visitors should definitely have a good local guide to visit or even swim with the manatees. For those moments that you spend with them snorkelling will never be forgotten. To see how they eat, doze, how a cow takes care of her calf, or how they noisily appear on the surface for breathing, is simply fascinating.

Those who want to rent a boat on their own are instructed by video how to behave properly when meeting these gentle giants. There are strict rules for these encounters and those who do not observe them have to pay extremely high fines! This seems appropriate, for the manatees are extremely unsuspecting animals that can peacefully graze for sea grass for hours. Unfortunately, there are only about 2,500 of these fascinating creatures left. Many die after having collided with boats and there is hardly a manatee without scars from screws.

By the way: manatees belong to the hoofed animals! They suckle their offspring under water, are about 4 metres long and weigh about 1,500 kg.

The Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park is a mixture between nature park and zoo. A circular trail allows the visitors to observe flamingos, herons, ibises, alligators and otters. The main attraction of the park, however, is the nursing home (plus underwater observatory) for abandoned or injured manatees or for those that were born in captivity. For those who want to visit the manatees without having to move too much – this is the right place …

Manatee Springs is the source of a short river joining the Suwannee River soon. In contrast to the name of the source it is the best place to observe vultures, particularly from the canoe.

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A lack of water in the swamp?!

There is no doubt: Florida is rich in water. One seventh of the surface (152,000 km2) of the state is covered with water bodies, among them about 8,000 partly enormous lakes. Lake Okeechobee, for example, is three times larger than Lake Constance in Austria. More than 350 artesian springs are gushing from the flat landscape of Florida. But still, in spite of the high precipitation of more than 1,300 mm per year the state is facing an increasing water scarcity. Ninety percent of the 14 million people living in Florida are supplied by groundwater resources. Settlements and industries exert pressure on the wetlands, half of them have already be drained and dammed in.

Massive use of fertilisers and pesticides in agriculture have polluted the waters. The groundwater level has considerably dropped, many wells are threatened by salinisation. The climate phenomenon La Niña has additionally worsened the situation since 1998. Scientists are already warning of a possible drying up of the Everglades! In reaction to this scenario the US administration has adopted extensive water protection measures. The future will show whether they will have been appropriate.
(Source: aqua press Int. 01/2001)

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