The Best Water in Florida

The best water in Florida is not on a beach. It comes out of the ground in the north-central part of the state, where hundreds of springs pump clear, cold water out of the aquifer all year long, and it makes every other swimming hole in America look like a puddle. The Gulf beaches are a close second, the Atlantic has its moments, and the blackwater rivers are their own strange category, but if you want the single best water in the state, you drive to a spring.

The springs, first and always

Florida sits on top of a limestone aquifer, and in the region roughly between Gainesville and the Gulf, that water finds its way to the surface. It comes up clear enough to read a license plate through and holds at around 72 degrees no matter what the calendar says. In July that feels like a miracle. In January it feels warmer than the air, which is why the manatees show up.

A few worth the drive:

• Ichetucknee Springs, near Fort White. The classic tube run. You float a few miles of glass-clear river under cypress and hardwoods, and the hardest decision of the day is whether to do it again.
• Ginnie Springs, on the Santa Fe River near High Springs. Privately run, popular with divers and with people whose coolers outweigh their kayaks. The water is the same either way.
• Rainbow Springs, near Dunnellon. The Rainbow River is a long, slow, blue-green tubing run and one of the prettiest stretches of water in the state.
• Wakulla Springs, south of Tallahassee. One of the deepest springs anywhere, with an old lodge and boat tours past alligators that could not care less about you.
• Devil's Den, near Williston. A spring inside a collapsed cavern. You walk down into the ground and snorkel in a stone room with light pouring through the ceiling. It does not look like Florida. It barely looks like Earth.

That 72-degree figure is roughly the whole personality of the 73 Degrees Tee, give or take a degree of optimism.

Manatee water

When the Gulf cools off in winter, manatees crowd into the springs because the spring water stays warm relative to everything around it. Blue Spring State Park, near Orange City on the St. Johns River, is the famous one. On a cold January morning you can stand on the boardwalk and count them by the dozen, lying in the spring run like gray boulders that occasionally breathe.

Crystal River, on the Gulf coast, is the other pilgrimage site. The springs of Kings Bay, including Three Sisters, draw manatees all winter, and the town has built an entire economy around letting people float quietly near them under supervision. The rules are strict, and they should be. The water there, on a clear winter day with the sun on it, is some of the best in the state, animals or not.

The Gulf side

If the springs are the best water, the Gulf beaches are the best water most people will actually visit. The Gulf of Mexico on a calm day is warm, gentle, and the kind of green-blue that looks fake in photographs.

• Siesta Key, near Sarasota, has sand made almost entirely of quartz. It stays cool underfoot even in August, and it squeaks. People travel a long way for sand that squeaks, and honestly, fair enough.
• The Emerald Coast, from Destin down through the 30A towns like Grayton Beach and Seaside, earns the name. White sand, clear green water, and dune lakes just behind the beach, which are rare and strange and worth a look.
• Caladesi Island, near Dunedin, reachable by ferry or by walking up from Clearwater Beach if the tides and your legs cooperate. An undeveloped barrier island with water as good as anything with a hotel behind it.

The Gulf's one flaw is that in late summer it can get so warm it stops being refreshing and starts being soup. That is when the springs win the argument again.

The Atlantic side

The east coast is a different product. The Atlantic has waves, currents, and a temper, which is exactly why some people prefer it. New Smyrna Beach is the state's surf town, with a consistent break and a reputation it wears comfortably. Sebastian Inlet, farther south, is the other name surfers say with respect. The water is rougher and often murkier than the Gulf, but standing in it feels like participating in something rather than soaking in something.

Down in Miami, the water goes turquoise again and the beach becomes an event. South Beach is more scene than swim, but the ocean there on a clear day is legitimately beautiful, and nobody floating in it is thinking about anything at all. That state of mind is more or less what the Good Times Miami Beach Tee is about.

Blackwater rivers and the flats

Two more categories, because Florida water refuses to be one thing.

The blackwater rivers of north Florida, the Suwannee chief among them, run the color of strong tea. It is not pollution; it is tannins from the swamps and pine flatwoods the water drains through. Paddling the Suwannee or floating Juniper Run in the Ocala National Forest, a narrow, twisting canoe trail through subtropical forest, is a completely different experience from a spring, and some people like it better. The water is dark, the banks are close, and everything is quiet in a way beaches never are.

Then there are the flats of the Keys: water so shallow and clear that boats appear to hover. Anglers pole across it hunting bonefish and tarpon, and even if you never pick up a rod, standing knee-deep on a flat at sunrise is a strong argument that this, actually, is the best water in Florida. The springs still win, but it is closer than it should be.

Keeping it worth writing about

The honest footnote is that Florida's best water is under pressure. The springs depend on the aquifer, and the aquifer depends on how much gets pumped out of it and what runs into it. Some springs that old-timers describe as gin-clear now run green with algae in bad years. The manatees depend on seagrass, and the seagrass depends on clean water. None of this is abstract if you have floated the Ichetucknee.

The fix is mostly beyond any one person, but showing up, paying park entrance fees, following the rules around wildlife, and giving a damn all count for something. That is the whole sentiment behind the Support Local Waters Tee, and it applies whether your local water is a spring, a river, or a stretch of Gulf sand. The rest of our Florida collection is cut from the same feeling: this is a strange, wet, beautiful state, and the water is the best thing about it.

Common questions

What is the single best spring in Florida for a first visit?

Ichetucknee Springs is the safest bet. The tube run is easy, the water is as clear as any in the state, and the whole experience requires no skill beyond sitting down. Go on a weekday if you can.

How cold is Florida spring water?

The big springs hold at around 72 degrees year-round. In summer that first plunge takes your breath for a second, then feels perfect. In winter the water is warmer than the air, which is why the manatees move in.

Gulf or Atlantic, which side has better beach water?

For calm, clear, warm water, the Gulf wins, especially from Siesta Key up through the Panhandle. The Atlantic is for people who want waves and don't mind the ocean pushing back. Neither side is wrong; they are just different sports.