24 February 2026
Tomoka State Park
Ormond Beach, Florida
Blue Spring State Park in Deland, FL.
Marc- The main adventure today was visiting another nearby state park famous for its incredible Blue Spring. Our timing was perfect since the spring is the cold weather refuge for manatees living on the St. Johns River. The last two days have seen near freezing temperatures at night (and the cold continues tonight). When we arrived at the park entrance a ranger informed us that there would be a one hour delay to get into the park due to the heavy volume of visitors. We asked if it was worth waiting for and he responded that 3 days ago there were only 7 manatees at Blue Spring and today there were 348 manatees due to the cold temperatures. Needless to say we waited to get in. Once we made it past the gate there was no problem finding a parking space and there was no crowding problem on the viewing areas and boardwalks. This park is really well designed for a large number of visitors. Wide boardwalks run the length of the "Spring" which is about 1/2 mile long from where its daily million plus gallons of water come out of a cavern and from a creek that leads down to the St. Johns River. You can rent canoes and kayaks. There is a guided cruise available. There is a canteen with hot food with a large eating pavilion and even a good sized gift shop.
We saw numerous manatees, various quantities of fish and birds and even an armadillo during our visit. It was absolutely wonderful seeing the manatees and the fish.
The water comes up from the aquifer in the dark area in the foreground. The large grey creatures are manatees and the many smaller creatures are striped mullet fish.
Manatees resting in the clear Spring waters.
More manatees and a few cormorants.
Schools of fish in the spring (no fishing allowed).
More fish.
Lots of Manatees.
We also spent a considerable part of the day searching quilts shops in the area. Sue did well and found 17 fabrics, 16 of which are of the same pattern in different colors, for a three dimensional design. This will be a fantastic quilt. The shop was Oceans of Thread and the staff was wonderful.
Our last task was finding a store that still sells postcards. We traveled back to the Atlantic shore and found such a place in New Smyrna Beach. I waited outside in the beachside sand parking lot. The local police only asked me to move along once. I just made another pass around the parking lot and Sue appeared with cards in hand. We followed Route A1A up the barrier beaches to Ormond Beach before returning to Tomoka.
New Smyrna Beach.
