Qualla: Blue Spring State Park https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:14 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/blue-spring-and-st-johns-river.jpg Qualla: Blue Spring State Park https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park Blue Spring State Park: Introduction https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park/ Photo credit Rizka, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every winter, a quiet migration unfolds in the waters west of Orange City, Florida. As temperatures drop across the state, hundreds of manatees leave the cooling St. Johns River and funnel into a single spring run, drawn by water that holds steady at 72 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. Volusia Blue Spring, the largest spring feeding the St. Johns River, becomes one of the most remarkable wildlife gatherings in the eastern United States. The massive, scarred bodies of these marine mammals crowd the crystalline run so densely that from the boardwalk above, the water itself seems to move in slow, gray undulations.

Read more: Blue Spring State Park on Qualla

Image: Rizka | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/djnh-blue-spring-state-park-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Blue Spring State Park: From Citrus Groves to Sanctuary https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park/ Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Long before the manatees drew crowds, the spring drew a different kind of visitor. Botanist John Bartram documented the spring in 1766, one of many natural wonders he cataloged across the colonies. By the mid-nineteenth century, the Weismore family had acquired the land, and the ...

Read more: Blue Spring State Park on Qualla

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/djnh-blue-spring-state-park-from-citrus-groves-to-sanctuary.mp3 0:06 2 full Blue Spring State Park: The Scar Catalog https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park/ Photo credit Milo44, CC BY 3.0. Since 1978, researchers at Blue Spring have tracked individual manatees by the one thing that makes each animal unique: its scars. Boat strikes leave the most visible marks, but fishing-line entanglements, cold lesions, and fungal infections all leave their signatures on manatee ...

Read more: Blue Spring State Park on Qualla

Image: Milo44 | CC BY 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/djnh-blue-spring-state-park-the-scar-catalog.mp3 0:06 3 full Blue Spring State Park: A Spring Under Pressure https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Tetraminoe assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0. The very popularity that protects Blue Spring also threatens it. More human visitors and more manatees together increase the environmental load on the spring's ecosystem. Water pollution from both species has fueled the growth of filamentous algae in the spring area, clouding wha...

Read more: Blue Spring State Park on Qualla

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Tetraminoe assumed (based on copyright claims). | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/djnh-blue-spring-state-park-a-spring-under-pressure.mp3 0:06 4 full Blue Spring State Park: Where the River Widens https://qualla.com/blue-spring-state-park/ Photo credit Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Outside manatee season, Blue Spring State Park reveals its other dimensions. The spring run stretches several miles, with a boardwalk covering a third of a mile from the St. Johns River to the headspring, where qualified scuba divers can descend into the spring cave itself. The p...

Read more: Blue Spring State Park on Qualla

Image: Ebyabe | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/n/h/blue-spring-state-park-wp/djnh-blue-spring-state-park-where-the-river-widens.mp3 0:06 5 full