Set the alarm for 7am so we could get on the road at a decent time to make it to Devil's Den for our 11am snorkelling reservation. It was a clear blue sky morning at 17c temperatures. We only had enough milk left for coffee, so it was jam and bread for the kiddos for now! Ollie and I went to the office to get an Orlando Sticker for the rig and Jonathan dumped the sani. We were driving out of the park by 8:15am... saw our new friend Joe on the way out and fist-bumped goodbyes and safe travels. As we pulled onto the main road we saw a lone sandhill crane walking around in the Wendy's drive-thru! Bizzare.
117975km we filled up with diesel at the Shell station. Passed our little Bill Frederickson Park and onto the I-4 to the Florida Turnpike toll road -- 6 lanes and big trucks -- to the Hwy 75.
at 10am we were taking exit 354 to Hwy 27 Ocala/Williston. Saw a fun jeep with Skeletons strapped onto the spare tire and the front grill. Drove through lots of horse stables and pastures with beautiful paddocks scattered with live oaks and facilities. Very equestrian in this area and apparently lots of money.
By 10:30am we were at Devil's Den Prehistoric Springs! We got the kiddos and daddy kitted out with their snorkel gear (kids have own mask and snorkels that they had been practicing with at the KOA pool yesterday). You have to be snorkeling or scuba diving to enter the cenote. I stayed dry to be the photographer as I'm really not great with the whole mask and snorkel dealio. Too claustrophobic! As much as I'd like to have gone in with them, I knew that keeping a mask and snorkel and flippers on was not my jam. I took pics of them from above peeking down into the hole in the ground. I could see Jonathan showing meems how to get comfortable with her fins. Luckily they were the only ones in there at first and had room on the platform to feel comfy dropping into the depths. It was a long narrow staircase down into the cave with a turn at the bottom onto a small metal platform in the water.
Soon after, a group of hesitant scuba divers entered, along with a batch of novice snorkellers. All larger adults that clearly were in over their head, so to speak! They crowded the platform, sitting and many unable to get into the water. Ollie was happily diving and snorkelling and swimming, and poor Amelia had a great time but was unable to come to the platform for a break. No one moved for her as she tried to approach the platform and balance on an underwater sloped handrail with the tip of her fins. Jonathan had to muscle his way onto it and place her on his lap. They came up for a break and then many of those unsuccessful participants came back up so J/O/A could go back in with lots of room. I snuck down with my camera to take some photos. They swam the full length of time we had booked... 11:00 to 12:30pm. They loved it. Meems came up a little sooner for a break and a shower. Another neat thing when they came up for the last time was that two college girls were snorkelling at the same time and had an underwater case for their phone and took some underwater pics of Ollie and Jonathan while they were down there and then they airdropped them to me! so fun!
Warm showers and cozy robes, and back to the rig for tuna sandwiches and treats. I'm so proud of those monkeys for snorkelling down there! quite the experience in the depths of the underground cave with shimmering aqua blue water and the sound of bats chirping! Super cool!
We left around 1:30pm for the 40minute drive to Manatee Springs State Park where we had booked a night in hopes of seeing some Manatees! apparently they start to come up into the springs when the water in the gulf cools down. The springs are a consistent 72F all year round.
Manatee Springs was a beautiful little park. The ranger at the entrance was super nice. She offered stickers for the kids and gave out a "raccoon sticker for the boy and a butterfly for the girl". Jonathan said, what if my boy wants a butterfly sticker? She commented that it was on us if we wanted to deal with that! I asked if Manatees were a possibility and she said they hadn't started coming up yet. Bummer!! '
We drove to our site #10, nestled amongst the live oaks (all with hanging spanish moss) and the palmettos. Felt super tropical and exotic. Settled in and I hauled out the tourist magazines and paper and glue and the kids and I set up to do some ripped paper mosaics. They really got into it.
It was a bit chilly (lots of locals called the waters "Icy!!"... it was not, haha) and we bundled up and rode back home for hot chocolates and tea. Warmed up, we walked back to the boardwalk at the springs through the beautiful and eerie Bald Cypress trees and their "knees" poking up through the mud. At then end of the boardwalk was a little look out with a ramp to a floating dock. This was the mouth of where the springs entered the Suwannee River. Quite unexpectedly, there were THREE MANATEES swimming right by the look out! So coooooool! It was so special to see them just floating along right under by the platform. One bigger one and two smaller ones... probably a little family? The meandered along to the edge of the springs but didn't go up into it. First Manatees to come by this season!
Back to the rig for ravioli dinner, a round of Sleeping Queens (card game) and a daddy science experiment with imploding beer cans that the kids had been asking for at all the wrong times. Tired kiddos after all the snorkelling adventures and new sights... good night!
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