Blue Springs State Park, Florida

February 23rd-27th 2015

We decided for our first trip of 2015 to go see the manatees. The best time to view manatees is in the winter when they swim up the rivers to the warm springs. We booked at Blue Springs State Park Campground and hit the road. Not long into our trip we realized that there was a problem. The RV started to hiccup periodically and it got worse the farther we went. It soon became obvious that we were losing power and eventually we could not drive faster than 50 mph. We called some experts during the drive and stopped, purchased and installed a new fuel filter but it didn’t help. A drive that should have taken us around 7 hours ended up taking us more than 12 hours. 

When we finally did arrive it was after 7 pm and the park was closed. We had not been informed to let the park know if we would be arriving after 5 pm so when we got there the gate was closed and locked and we did not have the code to open it. We were tired, frustrated and worried and now we couldn’t even get into the campground. I got out of the RV to go look on the building to see if there was someone we could call. Another camper pulled up behind us and finally, after David explained our situation, gave us the code. We were finally in the campground but now had to find our campsite in the dark. They do not have numbers on posts like most campgrounds do so we were pretty clueless as to which campsite was which. Luckily I saw a sign that said Campground Host and I went and knocked on his door and he told us where our campsite was. We got the RV parked and soothed ourselves with a late steak dinner and then went to bed. We’d deal with all of the problems in the morning.

The next morning we set up camp and then David made some calls and set an appointment for a mechanic to come out and look at the RV. Meanwhile we decided to walk over to the spring and see the manatees. Oh! The manatees! They are so interesting. They come up the St. John’s river to find the spring that bubbles up warm water. They are slow, graceful creatures. We just stood and watched them for the longest time. They’ll float near the bottom of the river for awhile and then they’ll come up for a breath of air. So interesting to watch.

Below is a video. The manatee comes up, takes a breath, rolls over then takes another breath before returning to the bottom of the river.

The campground has 51 sites which are within walking distance of the spring. Each site as water and electricity hookup but no sewer. There is a dump station available. Pets are welcome, thank goodness because Hercules goes everywhere with us.

Most of our time here was spent watching the manatees. If you’d like to see them go to  Manatee Cam  Save the Manatees have installed cameras and you can watch live streaming video of the manatees. There is also a house/museum on the property. The Thursby House. This home was built by Lewis Thursby. This was an official stop on the St. James River. It is an interesting self guided, free tour. 

The day before we left we crossed the street and did a portion of the Spring To Spring biking trail. This trail is 3.3 miles one way and was a very pleasant, easy bike ride. It is completely paved and mostly flat so not a lot of having to huff and puff uphill. You travel through palmetto and pine trees. We left the trail and took a dirt path out to a point on a lake and it was a very beautiful peaceful resting spot. Be sure to wear your tick repellant because this place crawls with ticks. David and I both found ticks on us when we got back to the RV. 

When it came time to leave, the RV was in serious need of some major repairs so we had to have it towed to the Cummins Orlando. Below is a picture of it being towed.

We stayed at the Cummins factory for several days then decided to go home until they completed the repairs. A week later we returned to Orlando and picked up the RV and took her home. Even with all the challenges we faced this was still a fun, enjoyable trip and we couldn’t wait until our next adventure.