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Cypress Spring

Photo: State of Florida (photo by T. Scott) / Public domain (Florida government work) · source

Springs

Cypress Spring

Vernon, FL · Panhandle

About

Cypress Spring boils up at the end of a quarter-mile paddle down Holmes Creek, and you only reach it by canoe, kayak, or paddleboard from Cotton Landing. Roughly 65 million gallons a day rise through a circular basin that shades from pale green at the shallows to deep cobalt over the vent, clear enough on a calm day to watch your shadow on the sandy bottom 25 feet down. Tie up, snorkel the boil, swing off the rope on the north bank, and let the 68-degree water run you back toward the creek.

Highlights

Reached only by water, a short paddle down Holmes Creek from Cotton LandingColor-graded basin from green shallows to deep cobalt over the ventSnorkeling and freediving in clear, 68-degree spring waterRope swing on the north bankSecond-magnitude spring, about 65 million gallons a day

Getting there

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Every spring on this list stays between 68 and 74 degrees all year, and from mid-November through March the manatees move into Blue Spring and Three Sisters. You watch them from the boardwalk.