Florida Gems & Tuber’s Paradise
Tired of the same old summer routine? Is sitting by the pool in the baking hot sun making you hate being outdoors in the summer? Well that is about to change! Two very popular Florida “Daycations” are the cure for the hot summertime blues. Ginnie Springs, also know as the Mega Spring, and Ichetucknee Springs is a “tubers paradise”.
When you turn onto the road leading to Ginnie Springs you will take a small scenic drive on part of their 200 acre property before you make it to the spring. Check in at their superstore and grab anything you may have forgotten at home. They have their own scuba shop, grocery store, gift shop and restaurant called Ginnie’s Grill. They even have bathing suits and towels just incase you left those behind too. While you are in the shop, stop by the rental stand and rent a few tubes to float around and just be lazy. Ginnie Springs offers rentals of all sorts and they cater to all your relaxation needs. The have tube, canoe, kayak, scuba rentals and more! Once you are at the water, your options seem endless. They have sand volleyball courts, pavilions with grills and nature trails. Or, if you are like me, you will be jumping directly into the water with a tube and heading down the Santa Fe River to the other connecting springs. Some other things you could do is walk the trail with your tube and enter at a different part of the river. You can start at the Devil Spring System which makes for a longer river ride. Along this system are 3 smaller springs: the Devil’s Eye, the Devil’s Ear and Devil’s Spring or Little Devil.
Ginnie Springs is a great place for camping too! They allow tents, campers, RVs and they even have cabin rentals available. Every year for the fourth of July my family and I would get there a few days early and pick out the perfect spot to set up camp. The wilderness spots are first come first serve so getting there early was always best. One year we were even lucky enough to get a river-front tent space! We would set up camp and since all the sites have grills and picnic tables, we were able to have my Uncle John’s famous cheddar burgers for dinner every night. His secret is to mix in shredded cheddar into the hamburger meat. The cheese melts inside and makes the burger extra juicy. Camping at Ginnie Springs is reasonably priced and you never have to worry about parking because your whole camp site is in walking distance to spring and river.
If you just want to cool off on a Saturday afternoon and you’re not looking to camp out the whole weekend, then Ichetucknee Springs is where you should go. They offer 9 springs all up and down the Ichetucknee River. Including Mill Pond Springs, Coffee Springs and Devil’s Den. Even the ride from Gainesville to the park is fun. It takes about an hour (if not less). During the whole car ride to the park there are areas where you can stop and rent your tubes. All these stops and shacks are not linked and are owned by different people so that means the pricing is always different. Remember this: the closer you get to the river, the more expensive the tube rentals will be. Once you have your tube and you park at the North Entrance, just hop into the water and let the current of the “Tuber’s Paradise” do the rest of the work.
The spring you enter at the beginning is called “Blue Hole Springs” or the head spring. The river flows south past Mission Springs, Devil’s eye and Grassy Hole Springs before you hid the midway point. Here you have two options, you can get out of the water and take a shuttle back to your car at the North Entrance or you can continue down the river to Dampier Landing also know as Devil’s Den. Here lies your last and final choice; it’s been about three hours now that you are at Devil’s Den. You can continue on (as I always do) or you can get out here and take the shuttle back to the top. If you decide to go on its only about an hour or so, depending on the current, before you reach the end. Last time I went with my friends, we all tied our tubes together with rope to make a giant raft and whenever we would get too close to the weeds and underwater plants, one of the guys would get out of their tube and pull us away.
The scenery at the Ichetucknee Springs and river is breathtaking and ladies, it’s a great way to get in a good sun tan without feeling like you’re under a fast food heat lamp. Like Ginnie Springs and all the other springs, the water stays 72 degrees year round. Even the river, because its spring fed. Ichetucknee Springs has the cleanest water in Florida so rest assured and just let the current take you away.
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