SHOCKING Blue Water of Silver Springs

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]Today, I was [music] going to be paddling for the first time here in Ocala.

[00:00:05]More specifically, in a state park called Silver Springs.

[00:00:11]Let's see what this place is all about.

[00:00:13]I certainly did like the entrance to this [music] place. There were lots of trees, it was wide open, and there was a big parking lot, >> [music] >> which was full.

[00:00:22]And this was like a Wednesday.

[00:00:24]I'm used to pulling over on the side of the road where there might be one or two vehicles, and that's it.

[00:00:30]This was definitely going to be something different than what I was used to.

[00:00:35]First thing I noticed was that there were no fishing poles around. Everybody here was paddling just for the recreation of paddling.

[00:00:42]There were canoes and kayaks, and it also seemed that very few people owned their own boats. Folks were here just to see the springs for a day. Most of these people were in from out of town, and that explains all the crystal clear kayaks you see there, and the lack of fishing poles.

[00:01:00]I kind of felt like I was out of my element here.

[00:01:03]Not only were there were lots of people, but there were lots of rules because these people didn't know what to do. So, there was no fishing, no alcohol, no this, no that. My goodness, I don't think you were even allowed to swim here.

[00:01:15]Well, at least I had my own kayak, so I didn't have to rent one, but again, it didn't absolve me from the obligation of paying a $7 launch fee, and to be corralled by the park employees.

[00:01:29]I will say everybody was very nice and polite, especially given how many people there were in this park at one time.

[00:01:37]If I could get your launch on the left side there for you. It's going in actually. That looks right there.

[00:01:43]Couple in the crystal clear, if I could get you to come up on this side, please.

[00:01:48]It's a nice launch at least.

[00:01:50]Yeah, it could be better.

[00:01:52]It's gentle in the kayak, you know.

[00:01:54]Yeah, with the carpet it makes it nice, but we're so low right now. The water level's usually up here. Oh, wow. Yeah, we're 3 or 4 ft low.

[00:02:02]Because of no rain? No rain, the dam issue that was just going on over there, the dropping dam. Right, right.

[00:02:09]Thank you, guys. Absolutely. Have a good day.

[00:02:11]Hi, ladies. How are we doing? Yeah, good.

[00:02:14]Remind yourself when you're going to come up here, you're going to get a sudden stop.

[00:02:23]The whole place actually had a bit of a Disney vibe to it.

[00:02:28]I'll tell you why in just a minute.

[00:02:32]What a circus.

[00:02:36]The Silver Springs is about 5 miles and is fed by natural springs, which makes a pretty good current.

[00:02:44]And since you're not allowed to fish, a lot of people will use this place for exercise, like these canoeers.

[00:02:49]Having foot power wasn't that advantageous cuz usually I have a rod and reel in my hand.

[00:02:54]But nonetheless, I was the only guy out here with a foot-powered kayak, and it attracted a lot of attention. That is the way to do that. And people seemed to think it was pretty cool.

[00:03:06]Yeah, the high drive on this Pelican Kicker got me through the river just fine, even though it was very surprising how quickly the currents could move through here. You can see the grass laying down right there, indicating how fast the water was moving.

[00:03:21]And after a little narrow part, it opened up into some nice deep spots.

[00:03:27]And under the water, you could see how crystal clear it actually is.

[00:03:32]This was a destination for a lot of Hollywood pictures between the 1930s and 1950s cuz they could easily go in the water and get those awesome shots.

[00:03:43]It was used in The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I think was in the '50s, and Tarzan, the Ape Man, which was from the '30s.

[00:03:52]And then in the '70s, competition from Disney really kind of stole this place's thunder.

[00:04:05]Quite a current running through here.

[00:04:08]Golly, it's beautiful though. Look at that blue water.

[00:04:12]It's really no wonder that before the theme parks came, that this place was like the destination in Florida. The natural beauty is amazing. This water's like 30 ft deep, and you can see turtles at the bottom.

[00:04:23]I guess that's why the glass-bottom boat business is doing so well.

[00:04:28]You can rent them, you can rent kayaks here or canoes, paddle boards.

[00:04:33]Most of the scenery out here is made by nature, and not by people.

[00:04:40]Still to this day, many people are coming here to help get away from it all.

[00:04:54]There should be a sign over that arrow that says, "You are here."

[00:04:58]Cuz yes, here I am.

[00:05:01]Silver Springs State Park.

[00:05:05]It's pretty.

[00:05:07]And me, typically when I come out on the water, I'm not looking for exercise. I'm looking for relaxation. I'm going to fish.

[00:05:16]So, I pulled off to the side.

[00:05:18]And it's amazing what happens, kind of like the difference between trudging through the woods and sitting in a tree stand nice and quiet.

[00:05:30]I think these little guys that came up to me were sunfish.

[00:05:33]Let me know if you know what kind of fish these are.

[00:05:43]You know what's funny is I came over to this little corner off of the main thoroughfare to get away from a little bit of a crowd, and I just kind of hung out here.

[00:05:52]And these fish all of a sudden started coming up like they were curious.

[00:05:56]They're like, "Wait, we don't see a pedal drive kayak very often."

[00:06:01]It's neat. It only happened when I stopped.

[00:06:04]And too few people do that, I think, anywhere, not just on places like this, but you know, folks don't take time to just sit and enjoy some peace and quiet. I think I'm going to get a lot of that here in Ocala.

[00:06:25]Thanks for visiting, guys.

[00:06:31]I didn't wind up staying here [music] too long today.

[00:06:34]I did notice that the high drive was perfect. I was worried about maybe pulling up weeds, but >> [music] >> this drive system doesn't do it like a propeller would.

[00:06:43]And while I was out here, I got to see all kinds of wildlife from those fish to turtles and lots of birds.

[00:06:52]And I also happened to notice that if you looked hard enough, there seemed to be alligators everywhere.

[00:07:02]Sorry, dude.

[00:07:06]Yeah, alligators aren't exactly my favorite thing. I prefer fish instead.

[00:07:13]Look at that fish right there.

[00:07:16]God, this GoPro's going to do it no justice. That is a fat big fish right there. [music] There's a whole bunch of them.

[00:07:23]These fish were tilapia, I think.

[00:07:26]And there you see some mullet jumping.

[00:07:28]I've seen them before and as well as these alligator gar where I used to fish in the salt water. There's a school of mullet.

[00:07:37]And some more tilapia down there in the deep, deep water.

[00:07:43]There were all kinds of cool stuff to see here in Silver Springs, [music] including some old sunken boats. As you paddle around and look down here and there, you can see remnants from the old movie days, and >> [music] >> this might be a steamship from like 1890-something.

[00:07:59]It's just been there forever.

[00:08:03]Uh there were statues and other kinds of things you could see down there, too.

[00:08:06]Probably really good from these glass-bottom boats.

[00:08:10]I bet the captains know the history of every one of those little sunken items down there.

[00:08:16]It was neat, I must say, even though I couldn't fish to paddle around and see this absolutely gorgeous water.

[00:08:26]And again, every once in a while, I got to look down and ask myself, "Man, what is that? Is that like a swim platform from a boat or piece of fence or something?"

[00:08:36]I mean, some of these items have [music] history, like you know, being a prop from a movie set back from [music] Jerry Lewis days, you know, a time when Florida was different.

[00:08:49]It's nice that it's preserved, and you can still >> [music] >> paddle around these areas.

[00:08:55]Imagine what it was like when this boat was still floating around, and hmm.

[00:09:03]Yep. To me, it reminded me of when I lived in New York once or twice.

[00:09:09]I think once I went to [music] the Statue of Liberty, and I played like I was a tourist. You do that once, and you're like, "Okay, that's cool. I don't need to do that anymore."

[00:09:18]Coming to Silver Springs, I think is similar in that >> [music] >> I think everybody ought to do it. Now, whether I would do this again and again and again, I don't know. [music] Um you know, some of the currents around here were kind of rough, but that's the same anywhere. Paddlers have to be aware of these things.

[00:09:35]Um it's [music] somewhat protected though.

[00:09:40]You can get under the canopy of the tree, and you don't have to worry about, you know, getting lost offshore.

[00:09:46]For anybody out there who wants to paddle around, I think that this state park is worth visiting.

[00:09:55]Thank you, Silver Springs.

[00:09:57]It was neat to come here and see all the cypress trees.

[00:10:02]Some of them are like carved out, still alive, uh but you can tell that the people that work here, the rangers and stuff, [music] kind of really keep it neat and clean. That's nice. It was [music] There was no garbage anywhere.

[00:10:17]Oh, look at those trees. So big. Uh I I went to the Keys once or twice and it was filthy [music] and dirty and it looked like uh it was in disrepair. This place was quite nice.

[00:10:28]Reasonable as far as money's concerned.

[00:10:31]So, uh I'll give it an eight out of 10.

[00:10:33][music] But next, in the next video I put out there, I'm going out to this place where you're allowed to fish and [music] somewhere under those lily pads is another species of fish that I'll show in the next video.

[00:10:45][music] Thanks for coming along, everybody.

[00:10:51]>> [music] [music]