No animal is more beloved in Florida than the manatee. These gentle giants inhabit coastal inlets across the state, but actually seeing them can be challenging.

There are places in Florida, however, where manatees can be seen with relative frequency. Florida’s inland freshwater springs are a favorite winter refuge for manatees, who travel upriver from the coast to escape cold seawater. Once within the narrow confines of these springs, the manatees are easy to view, often totaling into the hundreds over a short stretch of water.

One of the best and most famous locations to see wintering manatees is Blue Spring State Park. Just a short drive from Orlando, this is a great side trip while in central Florida.

Our Visit

Since we were traveling to Orlando in February we decided it would be a good opportunity to visit the state park, and booked a cabin to have a place to spend the night.  Staying in one of the cabins would allow us to enjoy the park before the crowds of manatee enthusiasts would arrive shortly after opening.

While the cabin looks unassuming from the outside, these cabins are quite spacious and offer a lot of amenities as you can see in the video I made. 

Booking a cabin in the park is not easy due to their popularity, but since we knew we would be coming over a year in advance, I was able to book one as soon as it became available online.

We were very happy with our decision to sleep in the park.

We ended up arriving after dark and thus experiencing the park would have to wait until the next day. After getting our beds made we called it a night. We had a busy day in store for tomorrow.

Exploring the Park

Early the following morning I was excited to get out and explore the park and visit the spring before the crowds would arrive.

I got my camera and GoPro and walked the short path to the spring. Along the way I encountered a group of white-tailed deer, largely unconcerned by my presence.

Once at the boardwalk that runs alongside the spring, I found a crystal clear waterway teeming with manatees, as well as numerous fish like longnose gar and tarpon, and even an alligator.

Interestingly, alligators avoid manatees and the one that was in the spring seemed eager to swim away from the manatees. Manatees have no real natural predators in Florida.

We were planning on kayaking in the neighboring St. John’s River where manatees can also be seen (as well as the rest of the Florida wildlife). The park offers canoe and kayak rentals.

Unfortunately, in my haste to make reservations I selected the wrong date and we were out of luck. There was a silver lining, however.

Rescued Manatees

At the time we were supposed to be on the river, a couple rescued manatees were to be released into the spring. The manatees were trucked in by Sea World and we watched as they were carefully unloaded from the trucks, were given a quick health check, had radio tracking devices attached, and were carried down to the spring.

The manatee release was a big local event with news stations and local politicians in attendance. It was a cool opportunity to see how these animals were given a new chance to survive in the wild.

When the manatee release ended we walked one more time up the boardwalk to visit the canteen for coffee and to stop by the souvenir shop. It was a cool, misty February morning in Florida.

Final Thoughts

Blue Spring is a terrific respite from the busy world just outside the park and a great place to see the natural side of Florida. While we couldn’t enter the water, in the summer months Blue Spring is a great place to swim and paddle as well.

It was a good visit for us and I look forward to visiting more of Florida’s many natural springs.