Blue Spring SP in Florida |
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TerryM
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Saint Augustine Online Status: Offline Posts: 1950 |
Topic: Blue Spring SP in Florida Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 3:51pm |
Blue Spring State Park is in the central part of Florida. The spring is a category 1 spring putting out 104,000,000 gallons of water per day! Yep, that is 104 million per day. The water flows into the north flowing Saint Johns River. From Blue Spring to the mouth of the river up by Jacksonville it is 170 river miles. The manatees numbered about 200 and swam those 170 miles to winter in the 72* spring waters.
The park covers 2,643 acres. Besides the manatee there are black bear, eagles, osprey, river otter, gators and Florida Cougar. The park has way too many birds to list here! I even saw 2 storks! Here is my campsite: A tarpon: Gar: A sleeping manatee: Manatees sleep on the bottom of the river. When its time for some more air, without waking up, they come to the surface for fresh air then settle back on the bottom. They do not wake up! Pretty cool! Getting a breath: |
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RP-175 W/Lift Kit 2011 Ford F-150 4X4
Saint Augustine, FL: The first permanent European settlement in the USA: 1565 |
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TerryM
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Saint Augustine Online Status: Offline Posts: 1950 |
Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 4:01pm |
The water where these were taken is about 6' to 8' deep.
Mother and child: This was taken Tuesday morning. The water is 72* and the air temp. was about 40*. It made for some beautiful views of the river. This section of the Saint Johns river has very pure water. You can drink right out of the river with no ill effects. It won't taste very good though because of the tannin that leaches from the trees. terry |
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RP-175 W/Lift Kit 2011 Ford F-150 4X4
Saint Augustine, FL: The first permanent European settlement in the USA: 1565 |
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dsmiths
Senior Member Joined: 10 Oct 2011 Location: Southern Ind Online Status: Offline Posts: 866 |
Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 6:49pm |
Great pix Terry, that 3rd pix looks like a gar fish. looking at those pictures makes me itch to get the pod out and go man go.
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Dane and Donna Smith
2011 RP-172 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4 lift kit prodigy wireless brake controller |
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techntrek
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 29 Jul 2009 Location: MD Online Status: Offline Posts: 9062 |
Posted: 16 Feb 2012 at 8:20pm |
Nice! Do they have a section set aside for swimming? There was a spring-fed swimming hole in the FL SP we stayed at last April, we wished we used it more while we were there.
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Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ Pod instruction manual
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TerryM
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Saint Augustine Online Status: Offline Posts: 1950 |
Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 4:38am |
There is a swimming section. That is where I took the pictures of the fish and manatees.
Terry |
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RP-175 W/Lift Kit 2011 Ford F-150 4X4
Saint Augustine, FL: The first permanent European settlement in the USA: 1565 |
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tpierce220
Senior Member Joined: 14 Jan 2011 Location: Oswego IL Online Status: Offline Posts: 281 |
Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 8:29am |
The pictures are totally cool. 44 days until April 1st, so it's 60 days until camping season. Yay!
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Adventures with ¡Podtástic!--Life in a Forest River RPod 182G with Tim and Louis and our two cats, Desi and Lucy. Check our website at http://podtastic.info for information on our journeys.
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2Peas-n-Rpod
Groupie Joined: 05 Jun 2011 Location: Nampa, ID Online Status: Offline Posts: 96 |
Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 9:51am |
Looks like a beautiful place with some fantastic animal life! Thanks for posting those wonderful photos for us to enjoy! Some day we hope to make it all the way across the country to visit Florida, and your post gives us a place to put on our list as a "must-see".
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2011 R-Pod 182G Hood River Edition
"Ribbitt" Pod (now sold) 2000 Ford F150 5.4L V8 TV |
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TerryM
Admin Group - pHp Joined: 16 Nov 2009 Location: Saint Augustine Online Status: Offline Posts: 1950 |
Posted: 17 Feb 2012 at 11:47am |
They also have a pontoon boat cruise on the Saint Johns that is well worth taking. I paid $20.00 (senior discount of $2.00) and was out for 2.5 hours. They have real nice play areas for the kids also. I'll be going back thats for sure!
Terry |
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RP-175 W/Lift Kit 2011 Ford F-150 4X4
Saint Augustine, FL: The first permanent European settlement in the USA: 1565 |
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Guests
Guest Group |
Posted: 18 Feb 2012 at 6:03am |
Thanks for the cool pictures and post!
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Snowbound
Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2011 Location: Edmonton, AB Online Status: Offline Posts: 270 |
Posted: 18 Feb 2012 at 9:46am |
Yes, thanks for the photos. Those of the manatees are especially interesting. Tell me, do they make any kind of noises?
Bette
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Tom and Bette
in our 177 "The Gastropod" |
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