Salt Springs Recreation Area
Salt Springs, FL · North Central Florida$
Salt Springs pushes 52 million gallons a day out of four rocky vents in the Ocala National Forest, and the water tastes faintly of salt. In the 74-degree pool, snorkelers float…
Photo: Ebyabe / CC BY-SA 2.5 · source
Springs
Troy Spring State Park
About
Troy Spring pours out of a 70-foot limestone funnel and stays a steady 72 degrees no matter what August is doing above it, so the swim is more bracing than the Suwannee next door and the water reads blue near the surface, green over the rock. The pull here is the spring run, where the bones of the Madison still rest on the bottom; the steamboat was scuttled in 1863 to keep it from Union hands, and on a clear day you can pick out its frame from the boardwalk or float right over it with a mask. Certified open-water divers can drop into the basin, but most people come to swim the bowl and snorkel the wreck, which is plenty.
Highlights
First-magnitude spring, a steady 72 degrees year-roundSnorkel or swim over the scuttled 1863 steamboat Madison in the spring runOpen-water scuba in the 70-foot basin (certified divers, no solo, no cave)Spring run empties into the Suwannee River
Getting there
Related places
More in North Central Florida
Others worth the drive in this corner of Florida.
Springs
Springs
Springs
Caves
Gardens & wildlife
Springs