Wakulla Springs State Park-Florida

There are so many state parks to visit in this area but we chose to take a day trip to Wakulla Springs as one of the most interesting.  Wakulla Springs state Park is a 6000-acre wildlife sanctuary hidden in Spanish moss-draped Florida woodlands about 30 minutes from Tallahassee.  The heart of the park is the world famous Wakulla Springs.  Cool water (about 70 degrees year round) flows from the springs to create the Wakulla river which is one of the last pristine rivers in Florida.  You can see a corner of the 1937 Mediterranean Revival lodge with 27 guest rooms furnished with period furniture.  Edward Ball purchased the property in 1934 and developed it as an attraction focused on the preservation of wildlife and the surrounding habitat.  There is no campground at this state park but beautiful grounds with lots of picnic tables to enjoy your lunch.  There is also a nature trail through the forest ecosystem.

Although the water is rather chilly, the diving tower and two additional floats are a huge attraction.  You can see that even during the week, there were quite a few people out enjoying the cool springs although it was not too crowded for comfort.

Cameron jumped right in and started swimming although Steve and Morgan took a little longer to get wet.

Cameron was out on the nearby float and jumping in feet first in a flash.  See him in the middle?

You can see Steve on the first level of the diving platform and Cameron already jumping off.

Morgan quickly makes friends wherever she goes.

Steve got wet by diving off the top platform.

And then the lower platform.

This was one of the floating platforms.

The guys head in for some time with Morgan closer to the shore.  She swims pretty well but decided she wanted to play in the shallower water since it was so chilly.

The kids had about an hour to play in the water before we headed over to enjoy the next adventure at Wakulla Springs.  Out past the swimming area, the springs goes down to about 175 feet.  There is a cave system down there but we didn't see any divers the day we were there.  A diving expedition went down through the cave system and came out about 7 miles away during one specially organized exploration dive not for the general public.