Blue Spring State Park Campground Tour, Manatees & Swimming (Full Time RV)4K
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ค. 2024
- Before we became full time RV travelers, we visited Blue Spring State Park in Florida often. Since we used to live about 30 minutes away from here for 23 years in DeLand, our home port, we visited here many times with family and friends. We have boated, canoed, swam, gone to the Manatee Festival and YES we have seen manatees. But this year is the first time we have been campers here.
In this video, we show you all the fun things to do in the campground & day use during its 2 “seasons”- Manatee season when 100s of manatees seek refuge in the warm waters, around November to March, and “swimming season” when people flock to the spring to swim, canoe, and dive the 72 degree waters. We also show you every single site in the campground, along with amenities. @FloridaStateParks1
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:43 Manatee Season
4:32 Swimming Season
6:21 Activities
7:37 Maps
8:26 Campground Tour
15:01 Conclusion
PROS: private campsites; natural surroundings; walking distance to day use; wildlife- manatees, gators, birds, fish; boardwalk; canoe, kayak areas; swimming in the spring; large day use; shop; rentals; decent internet; close to shops; allows for package delivery; many garbage/recycle containers; dog pet friendly (except at swim areas); 20/30/50 amp all sites; dump station
CONS: many unlevel sites; train noise; neighbors shoot guns on weekends; many planes fly low; if busy, hard to get back into campground if you drove out; no supervision of rules in campground [hardly saw park ranger in campground]; no sewer hookup; big speed bumps in terrible locations in campground; parts of day use are run down
For reservations: www.floridastateparks.org/sta... [new system started May 27, 2021]
Address: 2100 W French Ave, Orange City, FL 32763
Hours: Open ⋅ Closes 6PM
Phone: (800) 326-3521
OR TDD 888-433-0287 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET.
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We are a married couple in our mid 50s who downsized and sold our house so we can see the sights and enjoy every day to live deliberately as full time RVers - traveling with our dog Scrappy in our Grand Design Solitude 310 GK fifth wheel.
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#rvliving #bluespring #manatee #floridaspring
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Thanks Larry and Alice.
Doug, your welcome. Thanks for coming by,
Alice
You guys rocked that video!!! I’m definitely going to subscribe to you guys. That was an awesome campground video! Thank you
Tricia, we appreciate that so much.
We mostly do Florida campgrounds (a playlist for them) but we have a few out of state, too (many filmed- not published yet, too )
Make sure to read the description of the video (I usually add pros and cons if there is room)
Thanks again.
Somehow I missed this video when you put it out...or skipped it because we had already been and we now live in Deland. Shame on me because I always learn something from your videos. And I love your campground videos showing the sites. Stay strong. Sending positive energy to Larry.
We really miss DeLand. Glad you enjoy this area.
We are always glad that our videos are helpful in some way, whether the day it is released or years later.
Thank you for thinking of us. Larry is just waiting for appointment for his treatment 🤗
Just booked a spot at Blue Spring next spring after watching your vid - Thanks Larry and Alice
You will love it. Have a comfy floaty 🤣
Alice
Great video! Thanks for the great footage of the camp sites.
Ursula, thank you. We like to see the sites before we book so that’s why we show them.
Please share if you know anyone that might benefit,
Alice
Wow another Beautiful State Park in Florida. When we full time here in a few years we are definitely doing all the parks you done videos on. You both do an amazing job on the videos and tours thank you!!!!
Robert, thank you so much. We have camped at some of the best ones. We have a few still to get.
Keep researching and downsizing to prep for full time.
And as always, we appreciate it if you share the video,
Alice
Another awesome video and another State Park to add to our list.
Stephen, thanks. If you want to swim, check to see if Manatees left.
And as always- sharing is caring. If you know anyone that would like this park, please share,
Alice
We LOVED our visits to the day use area & the home...I want to camp there...I will someday
Dawn, it is beautiful there and I hope you get a chance to camp,
Alice
Love your videos. You do a great job of showing the parks.
Thanks. We try to show what we would like to see,
Alice
Beautiful park! I love the video of all the sites. Very helpful.
Jack, thank you. Every state park campground tour we do shows every site. We are glad you find it helpful.
Please share with anyone you know who might be interested,
Alice
Looks beautiful! Thanks for the tour!
Beth, your welcome. Feel free to ask any questions. And as always we appreciate the share with someone that might like it,
Alice
Thank you Larry and Alice! Great job! Thank you for this tour of the campground. And showing the manatees. That is a nice park. Hope you nigh had a nice Memorial Day weekend and hope you have a great rest jd the week and weekend until next time. See you soon. Safe travels.
Sherri, this park is great to see manatees in the winter cold months. Glad you enjoyed it.
See you next time,
Alice
Just watched this video on Blue Springs State Park Campground. What a great video. My wife and I were picking out our spots while you we’re doing the drive by. Thanks for the hard work making this tour video!
Glad the video was helpful, we love blue springs we went there a lot when we lived in deland for 23 years. Larry
Great video! Thank you ❤
Marieline,
Glad we could help. We have a whole playlist for Florida campground tours 🤗
Alice
Love the mannites. They are so cool. Glad their number are coming back. I have not gotten to swim in the waters yet but looking forward to trying that next winter. The boardwalks look very nice as well. Love the house with the big tree in front of it. Looks like some really nice sites. FL state parks know how to do it for sure. Great share y'all. Very well done. Hope your travels are going well.
William, maybe we can book together- though it’s hard to get in often. It is a very nice park. But there are some issues- they need to put some money into it.
Thanks for always watching and commenting 🤗 Alice
Another great video!! Thank you!
Pam, thanks. We really appreciate those that come back.
Please share with anyone you know that might like it,
Alice
As always, the channel with the best campground reviews!!! Try to stay warm in Maine🤗
Thanks Lisa. Tuesday is supposed to be better.
As always, thanks for coming by,
Alice
Another Awesome video!
Thanks. We really appreciate you coming back,
Alice
Another great video! Thank you Alice and Larry.😎👍🏼
Rick, we really appreciate your loyalty. 🤗
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents It’s my pleasure.😎
This is one of the springs that I got to dive in years ago. I will get back there to try out the campground when I take my rig down there in 2022. Nice job on the review.
That’s great that you got to dive there. It’s not my favorite campground, but worth it to be so close to the spring. Read my pros and cons in the description,
Alice
Thank you for your detailed videos! Keep em coming! We love it!!
We appreciate the positive feedback. They don’t get a lot of views, but we know they help a lot of people,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents yes it does! Very helpful and informative, you might want to share on Facebook camping groups.
@@lbella4665 is that allowed? Do you have specific groups in mind?
One of my favorites 🥰😍 truly a gem of the Florida State Parks. Great job guys!
Johanna, it has so much to offer. Thanks for coming by. If you know anyone that might like this video, please share,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents absolutely! I always share thank you! 🙏💕
@@johannadelbusto7987 No. thank you 🤗 😉
I just went there 2 weeks ago and it was beautiful. I loved it.
Staying at the campground gives you the added advantage of going to the day use before and after it’s “closed”
Beautiful! Hope to visit this park soon.
Medea, check the pros and cons in the description. And please share if you know anyone that might be interested,
Alice
Great video Thank you 🙏🏽 safe travels
It’s a bit run down. They are starting to upgrade the day use.
We had another reservation there but had to cancel due to Larrys health crisis. So we aren’t traveling for now. We do hope to be back at it soon 🤗
Debary checking in. Cool to see local stuff popping up on my feed. Nice video!
Thanks. Florida was our home for most of our lives - until we went full time.
And we winter there. So lots of Florida videos 😉
Hopefully, we will have a homebase there.
Another one added to our journal! We'll be spending a month in Florida and will probably plan on staying for both manatee and swimming seasons. Thanks for all the details! Perfect!
Jenna, we are glad we could help. We have been to many Florida state parks. Feel free to ask any question. We hope you enjoy your time in Florida,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents Thanks so much Alice. Hope to meet you both on the road in the future!
Oh how beautiful, I'd LOVE to see all those Manatees!! Loved watching Jacques Cousteau as a kid also, how awesome! I'm (Tab) afraid of deep water (can't swim well) but this river looks amazing and very inviting.
Tab, springs in Florida are beautiful. Seeing the manatees was amazing. As for the deep swimming, I leave that to Larry,
Alice
Thank you ❤️ Definitely want to visit.
Julie, there are many Florida state parks with beautiful springs. Make sure to check out our other campground tours. And please share with someone you know that would like it,
Alice
Thanks for info and great video. We are camping inherently in two weeks.😊😊😊 we are from the space coast.
Depending on temps, you may get some good manatees
Have fun
Heyy!! I live in Deland. Lived here for 27 years!! I camp at Blue Springs 4 times a year. Best place to camp in Volusia!!
Yes, I love blue springs, when we lived there for over 20 years, we used to go to Lake Beresford Park and ride our bikes or walk down to blue Springs. Good memories. Larry
My old stomping grounds...Grew up in DeLand and graduated from DHS. Love Blue Springs. Now live in Seminole County. Just getting back into camping and picking up our Rockwood Mini Lite tomorrow. You guys do great vids..thanks...
We loved bringing up our kids in DeLand and both went to DeLand High.
Enjoy your Rockwood Mini.
We hope to downsize in a year or two- more sites available and easier getting around.
Enjoy and thank you,
Alice
Wonderful video as usual. We LOVE the format of your videos, especially the campsite videos. We would like to see you put an asterisk on the campsite number or otherwise designate sites that would hold your fifth wheel. Or maybe those that won’t because of low branches or depth. Thanks again.
Thank you for watching and commenting. We are always trying to improve. Low branches would be difficult since that can change. And hopefully we will downsize our rig in the near future.
Alice
I picked a campsite based on camps pictures. When I arrived I discovered there were two large trash cans next to the site. Funny how that was omitted from picture. The site by site review you do is so helpful. Thanks DMC
That’s a great point. We like to show if you are near a bathhouse or dump station too. Sorry that happened. Thanks for watching,
Alice
I've always liked blue springs
Us too. But it was cool to see it as a camper for the first time. Please share with others that might enjoy it,
Alice
Very nice video. Makes me want to go visit
Jeff, definitely. Just pick which season you like and check with ranger station,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents I spent all last year at Eglin AFB and never got to explore the rest of Florida . When I come back we plan on spending more time and traveling.
Thanks
@@jeffconley819 Awesome. There’s so much to see. Check out our campground list. And if you have any questions, definitely get in touch with us- easiest and fastest is Instagram and Facebook or my email
Just discovered your site. Wow! You two are amazing!
Joe, thanks. We like to think our campground tours are different than any other channels,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents they really are different in that you make them fun, informative at a good pace!
@@Joe-cu4hi Thank you
I know that this place fills up fast during the summer. Is there a separate entrance for campers? We are heading there this coming Monday. Thanks for your videos. They are always so helpful!
Yes. Swimming season is pretty busy. A lot of locals. Monday should be better.
No separate entrance for campground- like at Rainbow Springs.
And thank you. We try to include info we would want to see 🤗
I was there many many years ago I was home on leave from the Army met a friend there did some tent camping canoed around for a while I want to take the wife but weekends are tough thats par for the course here in Florida probably hit it when we go full time
That’s cool that you have that memory.
You are so right. Weekends are hard to get. Fills up. That is an advantage to being full time. Alice
Always love your videos! Thank you for the informative info. I have a quick question- I think I booked my spot at a not ideal time. We are going in mid April- do you think we will still see manatees?
Thank you for the compliment. We always hope our videos are helpful
Manatees tend to be there only if other waters are cold. And if it is cold, and they are at the spring,there won’t be any swimming.
I don’t imagine it will be cold in April. Sorry. But the weather has been strange.
Sorry. I wish I could help more
I grew up in Volusia County and never went to Blue Springs. We always made the drive across Hwy 40 and went to Alexander Springs of Juniper Springs. I guess I'll have to make a trip home. Great video!
Richard, it’s a great area. If you want to see manatees, go when it’s cold. Also, have you gone to Silver Springs and Salt Springs?
A lot in the area. Enjoy,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents I’ve fished Salt Springs Run a number of times. I grew up going to Silver Springs. My Uncle began working there in the late 1940’s and worked there until about 10 years ago, so I have been lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look at the place when it was privately owned.
@@richardpeebles8492 Wow. That would be cool. Do you have any old photos from when it was private?
@@DownsizingMakesCents I would have to go dig through some boxes and see. The good news is we are in the process of cleaning out the basement, so I should be to the photo box in the next week or so.
@@richardpeebles8492 That would be awesome. Can’t put pics here. Try a message on our Instagram or Facebook. Or tag us if you post them on Social Media
Thanks for the tour and what's at the state park.
George, your welcome. We try to show the info we would want,
Alice
Great video, thank you. We have a Solitude as well... do you recall which site you stayed? Or have recommendations on larger sites. The reviews say the sites are pretty tight. Thank you
That’s why we show every site - so you can see how big they are. We have stayed in several sites with no issues. But we stay at many state parks and are use to natural campgrounds
Look at the 40s if you are really worried. But many times you don’t have many to pick from.
Ours is 35’
@@DownsizingMakesCents ours is 35 as well. Thank you
Are golf carts welcome?
We noticed that most campsites at this park and many others you have shown in Florida have low hanging foliage and branches. What are the procedures, protocols, expectations to cut them back to prevent damage to your RV? THX for the park review!!! ⛺⛺
Great question. If it’s a small branch touching the RV, we trim it. We have gone on the roof and cut it. But at Anastasia, there was a very thick branch hanging down. It almost took our back air conditioner. We just didn’t back up that far.
If something looks truly dangerous to your RV, I would go to a campground host and ask.
So far, we’ve been able to deal. We are 13’ 6” tall and 35’ long,
Alice
@@DownsizingMakesCents THX for the follow up including dimensions.
Can you help me understand the tubing aspect? I am used to Texas tubing. A bus drops you off at one end and you float down to the “end” where your car is parked. How do I get to the starting point? How to I get from the “end” back to my car? Thank you!!
The spring here is not that long. You just walk.
Rainbow springs has a trolley during tubing season
I'm kind of confused. We reserved a camp site next week. If we get there at 3 pm check in will they turn us away if they are full capacity? Or are we already counted in the capacity count because of our reservation? I would hate to get there and have to turn around.
That’s the bonus of camping at a state park - you get in. You can even walk over to the day use before and after the park hours.
So don’t worry - only people with no campground reservation will be turned away if they are at capacity
@@DownsizingMakesCents ok thanks for answering. I'm from DeLand as well. Trying to experience camping with my family for the first time. I'm not sure what day use mean? This is my first time camping at a state park.
Wish this place was full hookup.
Jaz, Yes! That would be nice 👍 But the day use area is awesome,
Alice
do they have a bath house?
It’s in the video at around 14:33
Gas price is high now for towing a trailer long distance. Sad.
That is very true. Hopefully it won’t last long.
Since Larry’s health crisis, we have been stationary near UF Health and probably will have to cancel and upcoming reservation at Blue Spring 😞