Blue Springs State Park

Facility was fine, nice board walk to get you to the entry point. You have to wade/walk up right hand side of bank or you can snorkel and watch fish etc. as you make your way to the spring. Water was very clear, numerous catfish, alligator gar, turtles. Spring is large hole in ground about thirty feet by twelve feet or less across. We went down to bottom and turned on our light even though they do not want you taking a light for fear you may try to enter cave portion. There is a small warning sign at 73ft. Tells you nothing in the cave is worth your life. Was cool to see it once, probably wouldn't bother again. After you go in and look around there isn't much else to the shallow water above minus the local fish population.

In the winter you're going to be prohibited from diving the spring due to the presence of protected marine mammals (manatees). In the summer, this is a fun dive, but only for a couple of times. The water is consistently 72 degrees and clear as gin. You have to show your certification card to get in with dive gear, and a proper cave cert to carry any dive lights. If you're not into the marine spelunking thing then your dive is going to stop around 60', but you'll have some fun playing in the current. It's like underwater skydiving - you can lie on one of the shelves to rest and then pop out into the current and "skydive." Of course, there's not much to see, the opening feeding the spring drops down to 150' and then goes into a cavern system, but if you're not trained don't head down that way and kill yourself! People have died here - don't let yourself become the next!

I have dove Blue Springs for 35 years. It has not changed much. There used to be tons of giant white shells lining the run, but now it is heavy with green plant growth. Years ago you could also go all the way to the bottom, where the water jets out from the closure in the rock. That room has seemed to get larger, and it is black dark in there now. In the afternoon there used to be light all the way down, perhaps from a change in the axis of the world. This is the best there is.

This is truly one of the best spring dives in Florida. Easy access to the spring, great facilities, plenty of fish/wildlife, and inexpensive to enter! The spring itself has a strong outflow which can make the descent a bit of a struggle, but all in all this is a great dive.

Not much to see when the Manatees are gone. It's kind of a "Been there, dove that" kind of place.

Awesome place to dive, but it is good to go with someone who has dived there before, since they can find all the cool things. Like the swim-through and the air bubble. Nice and cheap, too; only 10 dollars or 40 for a year round pass to all the state parks.

Dove this on 1/16/05. It was raining and air temp was a cold 46 degrees, so it was almost 30 degrees warmer in the water than in the air. Stephen Armstrong's review below is very accurate, so I won't repeat it here. Although I don't think it's 1/4 mile from the car park to the entry ladder. (I would have said an 1/8th mile, but why split hairs?) The flow out of the spring is strong, but easy enough to overcome. We dove weighted for the ocean, and we could pull ourselves down by hand, or fin down when we went head first. There were over 70 manatees in the run today, so the head spring was the only part we could dive. But there were manatees at the vent, and they were very playful. It was a challenge to keep our hands to ourselves. They were just begging to be scratched. But the rangers ARE WATCHING!! Best to leave them completely alone. Fee was $10.50 per diver. Limit 40 divers a day, so get there early. By 8:30am, there were probably 15 others there already, and the park opens at 8am! Lots of fun for a single tank, morning dive.

I just recently dived blue springs and really enjoyed my self. Entry is a little bit different then other springs I have dived. It is a very good idea to go to the closet parking lot to the spring entrance and suit up at your car and walk with your gear on down the 1/4 mile board walk that takes you to the closest entrance to the spring. Once you have entered the water my advise is to walk up the 3ft deep run to the basin rather then try to swim against the current because they are rather strong. When you are in the spring basin you then should put your fins on and proceed to dive. When entering the spring there is a large crack about 15ft wide and 100ft long with some tree trunks inside. Swimming down the inside there is lots of crevices. At 60ft there is the grim reaper sign OW divers should not go past this point. When exiting the spring the spring run is about 1/2 a mile long or so and is very relaxed and there is abundance of wild life ranging from large gar, brim, bass and the fish I see most are large 15 inch long sucker fish just like the ones you get for an aquarium. If you look under tree stumps and rocks craw fish might be found. Have fun!

Fun for all levels snorkeling with gar, tilapia, big snapping turtles, and the like. Can't enter the water in Winter because of the large manatee population. Cool water makes it a great summer chill out!