- Where
- North and central Florida,
United States - Coordinates
- 28.889° N
82.589° W (Three Sisters Springs) - Stops
- Three Sisters, Blue Spring,
Wakulla, Ichetucknee - Manatee season
- 15 November–31 March
(Crystal River refuge) - Refuge
- Crystal River NWR, 1983
(US Fish and Wildlife Service) - Manatees
- At least 8,350 in Florida
(state wildlife commission) - Getting there
- By car, separate trips,
hours apart - Advisory
- United States
(no State Department level)
A cold morning, and the spring was steaming under the oaks and palms, the water so clear the boats seemed to hang in the air. On the sand below lay grey shapes the size of armchairs, rising to breathe with a soft snort. One looked up at me with a small wrinkled face and went back to sleep. I kept my paws to myself, which took some doing.
The short answer
Florida’s springs are places where water from the aquifer beneath the state rises to the surface, and the Florida manatee, a subspecies of the West Indian manatee, uses many of them as a warm refuge in winter. This entry covers four that can each be visited, though not in one day. Three Sisters Springs, in Kings Bay at Crystal River, is preserved by the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established in 1983 as the only refuge created specifically to protect the manatee. Blue Spring, in Blue Spring State Park at Orange City, is the largest spring on the St. Johns River, the Florida Springs Institute says. Wakulla Spring is in Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, south of Tallahassee, and the Ichetucknee Springs feed a short clear river in Ichetucknee Springs State Park, near Fort White. Manatees winter at Three Sisters, Blue Spring and Wakulla; the Ichetucknee draws most of its visitors to float or paddle its river, the Florida Springs Institute says.
August 2005Manatees over the sandy floor of a spring.
Photograph: David Hinkel / USFWS Endangered Species via Flickr · Endangered Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus), Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, Florida · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
Why it's worth knowing
A warm room in a cold winter. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission counts manatees from the air in the coldest weeks of the year, January to March, when they gather at natural springs, the warm outflows of power plants and deep canals; it flies a statewide count only when the water near those gathering places is below 68°F. Florida has protected manatees by state law since 1893, and the commission puts the population at a minimum of 8,350 animals; in May 2017 the species was moved from endangered to threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. At Crystal River, the refuge says, more than 600 manatees come into Kings Bay each winter, and from November to March seven federal manatee sanctuaries there take effect.
Manatees crossing King Spring in Crystal River, backlit.
Photograph: David Hinkel / USFWS via USFWS · Public domain (PD-USGov, US Fish and Wildlife Service) · cropped
Springs under strain. In 2016 Florida’s legislature passed the Florida Springs and Aquifer Protection Act, under which the state named 30 Outstanding Florida Springs. The Florida Springs Institute, a nonprofit, reports that 24 of them are considered impaired, Wakulla, Blue Spring and the Ichetucknee among them, and that an impaired spring needs a plan to meet water-quality standards within 20 years. At Three Sisters the refuge itself is studying how many visitors the springs can take, counting people and measuring the water’s clarity, nitrogen and phosphorus through parts of the summer.
The field notes
Three Sisters, saved from the developers
In the 1920s Citrus County fishermen poled wooden skiffs up a long, winding creek from Kings Bay to Three Sisters to fill jugs with spring water, the Fish and Wildlife Service records; a dive shop ran glass-bottom boat tours in the 1950s, and a canal was cut in the 1960s. In 1972 Jacques Cousteau rehabilitated Sewer Sam, the first documented rescued Florida manatee, in the spring. In the 1970s most of the trees were cleared and an 8-acre pit was dug that collapsed into the aquifer, and the land was meant for condominiums, townhouses and bottled water. A partnership of state, federal and local bodies bought it in 2010 for $10.5 million, about two million below market value. The City of Crystal River and the Southwest Florida Water Management District own it; the refuge manages it, and it opened to the public in November 2014.
Blue Spring and the count
Blue Spring’s vent lies about 20 feet below the land surface and opens into a cave about 125 feet deep, the Florida Springs Institute says; the spring run is divided between a public swimming area and two manatee refuges, and the site holds an Amerindian temple mound. Florida State Parks says hundreds of manatees gather there from mid-November to March. On a cold Sunday in January 2024 park staff counted 932 manatees in the run, WSVN reported. Swimming in the run is allowed from 1 April to 14 November, with no entering the water in manatee season, Florida State Parks says, and the park can close to new arrivals when it is full.
Wakulla, deep and dark
Wakulla Spring discharges about 300 million gallons a day from a vent 180 feet below the surface, the Florida Springs Institute says, and calls it the largest and deepest freshwater spring in the world; Florida State Parks, which runs it as Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, calls it one of the world’s largest and deepest. Edward Ball opened a lodge beside it in September 1937, and the State of Florida bought the property in 1986, the Museum of Florida History records. Florida State Parks lists two films shot at the spring, Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).
April 2013The Wakulla River seen from the riverboat.
Photograph: Rachel Kramer via Flickr · Wakulla Springs · CC BY 2.0 · cropped
The Ichetucknee, for floating
Ichetucknee Springs State Park covers more than 2,500 acres, eight major springs and three and a half miles of the Ichetucknee River, and is a National Natural Landmark, the Florida Springs Institute says; most visitors come to float down the river on tubes or to paddle it. Florida State Parks says the park limits the number of tubers and that launch points can close; check the park’s current notices before going.
November 2015A clear spring run in Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
Photograph: Erin Gawera, USFWS via Flickr · Public domain (PD-USGov, US Fish and Wildlife Service) · cropped
About 40 kilometres south of Crystal River (this entry’s measurement), Weeki Wachee Springs State Park is known for an underwater show: performers called mermaids have swum in the spring there since its first underwater theatre opened in 1947, the Florida Springs Institute records.
March 2009A spider lily in front of cypress trunks on the Ichetucknee River.
Photograph: Justin Meissen via Flickr · Ichetucknee River · CC BY-SA 2.0
- This is the manatees’ winter house. Keep to the surface, keep your paws to yourself, and let a resting one rest.
- Come on the coldest morning you can bear, early, while the water is still steaming.
- Lie still on the surface and wait. Something large and grey may come over to see what you are, which is far better manners than going to see what it is.
- Count the manatees. (Lost count at the third, who was lying on top of the second. They have gone on the list as one large item.)
- Save a warm afternoon for floating down a clear river in a rubber ring, and let the river do the steering.
The pilings at the mouth of Three Sisters Springs. In 1982 a row of pilings was set across the entrance to Three Sisters Springs to limit boat traffic, and the spring run was lined with large boulders, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records; since the property was bought in 2010, boulders along the run have been taken out so that manatees can get in at low tide. Paddle craft may enter only from 1 April to 14 November. The manatees come and go all winter.
Tally, in the marginA row of posts across the mouth of the spring, set too close together for any boat. All afternoon the manatees drifted in and out between them without so much as a pause, and it was nearly supper before it dawned on me that the door had been made exactly the right size for the guests, and the wrong size for everybody else.
Getting there
How to get there. These are separate trips by car, not one tour. Crystal River is on Florida’s Gulf coast, about an hour north of Tampa, the Fish and Wildlife Service says. In straight lines, by this entry’s measurements, Three Sisters Springs is about 120 kilometres from Blue Spring, at Orange City north of Orlando, and about the same from the Ichetucknee, near Fort White; Wakulla, about 25 kilometres south of Tallahassee, is about 225 kilometres from Crystal River and 320 from Blue Spring. At Three Sisters, visitors on land reach the boardwalk by a shuttle from the City of Crystal River’s Three Sisters Springs Center, which charges the entrance fee. On the water, the springs are reached from Kings Bay with one of the refuge’s permitted tour operators, or in a hired or your own boat; paddle craft are allowed into Three Sisters only from 1 April to 14 November.
Kings Bay at Crystal River.
Photograph: Casey Lovegrove via Unsplash · Unsplash licence · cropped
When to go. For manatees, winter: the refuge’s manatee season runs from 15 November to 31 March, and Florida State Parks gives mid-November to March at Blue Spring. For swimming and floating, the warm months: Blue Spring’s swimming season runs from 1 April to 14 November. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from 1 June to 30 November, the National Hurricane Center says.
What to arrange ahead. For an in-water visit at Crystal River, a tour with one of the operators on the refuge’s permit list, or a hired or your own boat; the refuge asks visitors to watch its “Manatee Manners” videos before any activity in Kings Bay. At the state parks, Blue Spring and the Ichetucknee both say they close for a time when full.
Safety. The State Department’s travel advisories cover other countries, so none applies here. In all the waters of Kings Bay, including Three Sisters Springs, the Fish and Wildlife Service prohibits chasing a manatee, touching or disturbing a resting or feeding one, diving onto one, cornering or surrounding one, separating a mother and calf, and giving one anything to eat or drink; it encourages watching calmly, from a distance and at the surface. Florida State Parks notes that alligators share the river at Wakulla. The National Hurricane Center’s outlook of 25 October 2026 expected no tropical cyclone to form in the following seven days.
Mark this place
Common questions
Where can you see manatees in Florida in winter?
Florida’s wildlife commission says manatees gather in the coldest weeks, January to March, at natural springs, the warm outflows of power plants and deep canals. Among the springs, Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge has a manatee season from 15 November to 31 March, and Florida State Parks gives mid-November to March at Blue Spring.
What is Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge?
Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge, on Kings Bay in Crystal River, Florida, was established in 1983 as the only US national wildlife refuge created specifically to protect the threatened Florida manatee, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. It preserves Three Sisters Springs, and more than 600 manatees come into Kings Bay each winter.
Can you swim with manatees at Crystal River?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says visitors can put on a wetsuit and snorkel in Kings Bay at Crystal River, in their own or hired boats or with tour operators who hold its special use permits, and encourages calm, passive watching from the surface. In all of Kings Bay, including Three Sisters Springs, it prohibits chasing, touching a resting or feeding manatee, diving onto one or separating a mother and calf.
When is manatee season at Crystal River?
The manatee season at Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge in Florida runs from 15 November to 31 March, when its seven warm-water manatee sanctuaries take effect, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. Paddle craft are allowed into Three Sisters Springs only from 1 April to 14 November.
How many manatees have been counted at Blue Spring?
Park staff at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, Florida, counted 932 manatees in the spring run on a cold Sunday in January 2024, WSVN reported. Florida State Parks says hundreds of manatees gather at Blue Spring from mid-November to March.
How deep is Wakulla Spring?
Wakulla Spring, in Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park south of Tallahassee, has its vent 180 feet below the surface and discharges about 300 million gallons a day, the Florida Springs Institute says. The institute calls it the largest and deepest freshwater spring in the world; Florida State Parks says one of the largest and deepest.
What films were made at Wakulla Springs?
Florida State Parks lists Tarzan’s Secret Treasure (1941) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) among the films shot at Wakulla Spring, in Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, Florida. The park’s lodge was opened by Edward Ball in September 1937, and the state bought the property in 1986.
Are Florida’s manatee springs close together?
No. In straight lines, Three Sisters Springs at Crystal River is about 120 kilometres from Blue Spring at Orange City and from the Ichetucknee near Fort White, and Wakulla, south of Tallahassee, is about 225 kilometres from Crystal River and 320 from Blue Spring (this entry’s measurements). Each is a separate trip by car.