Manatee Springs State Park
Chiefland, FL · Nature Coast
Manatee Springs, six miles west of Chiefland, takes its name from a dead manatee William Bartram saw there in 1774. Live ones are seen about 100 times a year, more often in fall…
Photo: Ebyabe / CC BY-SA 2.5 · source
Springs
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park
About
Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park wraps around the headwaters of the Homosassa River and is one of the only places you can watch West Indian manatees up close every single day of the year. Step into the floating Fish Bowl underwater observatory to stand eye-level with manatees and schools of fish, then follow the boardwalk past resident black bears, bobcats, alligators, and a Florida panther. Daily manatee programs run at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. In winter wild manatees come up into the headwaters too, alongside several resident manatees that can't survive in the wild.
Highlights
See West Indian manatees up close 365 days a yearUnderwater Fish Bowl observatory at the main springBoardwalks past black bears, bobcats, alligators, and a Florida pantherDaily ranger-led manatee programs at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.Accessible paved trails and a wildlife walk through 210 acres
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Go in winter if you can. Manatees crowd the warm springs from mid-November through March, and the wading birds are thickest on the same cool, dry mornings.
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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.
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Seven places to see wild manatees in Florida, picked for how many turn up on a cold winter morning. Go between mid-November and March, after a cold snap drops the bays and rivers below 68 degrees.