Three Springs and State Parks in the DeLand area

The plan was to kayak with manatees at Blue Springs State Park, however when we arrived we found out the spring run
was closed to boats during the day. Fortunately there are trails that take you right up and over the spring
so we were able to see one manatee lounging in the water there along with very large gar fish.

Walking with Margie and Drew. 

Another day we kayaked the spring run at DeLeon Springs State Park. We saw lots of fish jumping and two alligators on the banks of the river! One was about 8ft long, the other was just a baby, maybe two feet, if that. The kids were pretty excited.

Afterwards we swam in the spring. Don't worry, it's walled off so the gators aren't in the swimming area! The spring is about 25 feet deep and if you dive down, you can actually see the opening where the water is coming in. The excess water pours over the wall as a waterfall into the spring run (photo above). Asher and Journey were a bit hesitant to swim here after seeing the gators just down river. After some reassurance, Asher swam and even put on his mask so he could look for shells and turtles on the bottom. Our friend Drew actually found a good sized turtle and brought him up to show the kids.

On one of our last days, we rode the ferry to Hontoon Island State Park. We hiked thru the woods.

We found this super cool tree growing right out of another huge tree that had fallen!

 Afterwards another family kindly shared their fishing pole and worms letting Asher and Journey
fish for a bit. The kids played on the playground before we rode the boat back to our truck.