We went exploring some areas up on the Suwannee River and nearby for a week recently.  The next several weeks will feature some of our travels along the week of exploration and adventure.  One of many places we visited was Troy Spring State Park located about 6 miles to the west of Branford, Florida.  The park features a beautiful spring for diving, snorkeling and swimming - since we were exploring, we were checking out various locations for future adventures - this particular trip was a photo stop along our way (we didn't jump into that 72 degree spring water).  I know it's touristy to take photographs of the signs (notice I didn't make anyone stand in front of it)....however, it does help to divide up the photographs on the camera such that we know when we have traveled to a new place.

Our trip it had recently finished raining, so we had wet roads, saturated colors and the park to ourselves until just before we left.  The roads leading back to the spring are a little hilly and quite beautiful.  I imagine that if Florida had a 'fall season' this would be gorgeous.

There is a ramp (not pet friendly) down to the spring.  Once you get to the end of the ramp, there are a few stairs to get down into the water or since the water was low, walk around the edges.

This is a 'first magnitude' spring pumping a lot of water into the Suwannee River daily. The official Florida State Park website says the spring is 70 feet deep!  That's pretty deep to me for a spring (but I'm not a diver, so I may not know).  Just walking up to the spring with my camera (and wishing I had brought a polarizer down that long ramp with me), I saw several turtles swimming below the surface along with fish.  The water was very clear - it was a nice quiet place to enjoy and reflect without any others around.

In the top of the photograph below, you can see the spring is blocked off from the Suwannee to prevent people from bringing in boats.  There is a fee of $5.00 to enter the state park but if you like springs, this is worth the stop to dive, snorkel, swim or just take a look to see the beautiful clear water.  Note that the park is closed when the spring is not clear (based on the state park website).

Until next week, when we continue our adventure in this area of Florida.