Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, Weeki Wachee Florida

Copyright 2014, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Recently we took a few hours and drove over to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park.  A few tidbits about the area and the park:

The swimming area of Weeki Wachee Springs is open all year.  The water temperature is a constant 74 degrees.

The mermaids at Weeki Wachee Springs started performing in 1947.

You can be married here, canoe here, snorkel here, swim here, scuba dive here, have a family reunion here, picnic here, take a boat ride here, see wild life here.

The city of Weeki Wachee had a population of 12 in 2000.

There is an informative and fun fact filled page on Weeki Wachee here.  According to this page, "Each day, more than 117 million gallons of clear, fresh 74-degree water bubbles up out of subterranean caverns."   Do visit, as there is some fascinating information here.

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Below, very near where the mermaids swim and perform, standing out side, I caught this fish in the crystal clear water.  I was about 15 feet from the fish and the water looked to be about 4 feet deep, and those numbers are wild guesses.  I mean, really, you can see the shadow of the fish the water is so clear!

The mermaids performed the story of "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Anderson, while we were there. My seat was not conducive to  photography, there was a "pole" in the way and for some reason the mermaids seemed to be behind it quite frequently.  Digital editing, for the most part, did little to improve the photos, in fact, for some, like this first photo, the auto correct and some of the other "tools" I played with actually made this photo worse. The second and forth photos have a bit of auto correct.

The mermaids swim, 16 to 20 feet below the surface where the current is five miles an hour, and they manage to stay in place and dance and swim.  Quite amazing.

Above and below, one of the sisters of the little mermaid.

The sea witch:

The little mermaid and her prince.

Back outside after the show we wandered down toward the boat ride that is included in your admission, isn't this peacock pretty, and sitting in that tree like that?

 

We took the next boat tour, it lasted about 20 minutes and was narrated the entire time.

A great white egret.

It is hard to see from the photo, all that light green looking area, is actually white sand with about 2 to 4 feet of water, clear water running over it. The water is so clear when you look down you would think you are looking through a glass of clean drinking water fresh out of the tap. The water where the color is almost gray, appeared to be deeper. Photo does not do justice.

This was a thrill. A bald eagle in the wild. It was in a very tall pine tree. Sony Too and I went to work, trying, to capture the image. I believe Sony Too was zoomed to the max or nearly the max. I was holding my breath during the click of the shutter. I think we did fairly well. Score!

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