Manatee Springs

We went camping at Manatee Springs state park with our friends in late April.  I think that everyone under the sun was camping that weekend.  We had a hard time securing a spot at any of the good nearby campsites and ended up having to drive three hours to this campground.  I'm glad we did because this state park was really nice.  We were only able to stay for one night, but we certainly made the most of it.  We arrived around noon, had a picnic lunch, and then walked around the springs to get the lay of the land.  We took the boardwalk down to the Suwannee River and saw lots of wildlife along the way.  There were no shortage of snakes or deer at this park, that's for sure. 

After exploring the area a bit, we drove to our assigned spot and set up camp.  The campsite was nice.  It had running water and an electrical outlet.  There was also a comfort station with showers and toilets a short walk away.  The bathroom was large and really clean.  Once everything was set up, we changed into our swimsuits and headed down for a dip in the springs. 

 After our swim, we returned to the campsite where we cooked hot dogs, hamburgers, and made s'mores.  The kids went "exploring" in the woods behind our tents and found an open area that they dubbed their "secret spot". 

 As it got darker, we broke out the games.  We started with a kids-versus-adults game of head's up and ended with a game of rummy.  As we were getting ready for bed we noticed that the their were tons of fireflies in the woods behind our campsite.  The kids had fun catching those.  All were released, of course.

Even though we were only there for one night, we were able to squeeze in two hikes.  We did a short one on our first day and a longer one before leaving on our second day.  There were several sinkholes in the area and the kids liked  in seeing those.

 My favorite part was swimming in the spring.  Manatee is a first magnitude spring, so there was lots of cool, clear, fresh water.  The set-up around the head spring was nice with stairs and platforms in various areas. They also had an area where you could rent kayaks and paddle out to the Suwannee, but we did not do that on this trip. 

 We had a great time camping.  A lot of this had to do with the company.  The kids both said that there favorite part was being able to go with their friends.  The park wasn't too shabby, either.  I liked it a lot and would definitely be interested in a return visit.