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Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

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Springs

Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park

High Springs, FL · North Central Florida

About

Gilchrist Blue pushes out about 44 million gallons a day at a steady 72 degrees, filling a wide bowl of green and blue water that you wade into from a sloping sand beach. Snorkelers drift over the boil while families ride tubes down the quarter-mile run where the spring empties into the tea-dark Santa Fe River. Come on a weekday morning before the swimming area fills and bring your own mask; there is no scuba here, just the slow float and the cold.

Highlights

72-degree second-magnitude spring, about 44 million gallons a daySand beach and roped swimming area with a 24-foot deep dive dockSnorkel the boil; no scuba diving permittedTube the quarter-mile run to the Santa Fe RiverCampground, boardwalk, and paddling on the Santa Fe

Getting there

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Florida Springs24 places

Florida Springs

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.