Silver Springs is one of the largest artesian springs in the world, a group of springs east of Ocala whose clear water forms the Silver River and flows about five miles to the Ocklawaha. The main spring opens under a basin deep enough that, in its clearest years, divers and boat passengers could see the vent about 30 feet below as if through glass. That clarity invented a tourist industry. The glass-bottom boat was developed there in the 1870s, and Silver Springs became one of Florida's first great attractions long before the theme parks. Hollywood filmed there too, including Tarzan pictures of the 1930s and 1940s and the underwater television series Sea Hunt. The river also has monkeys. Rhesus macaques were released along the Silver River in the 1930s by a tour-boat operator, and their descendants have lived wild in the forest ever since, their numbers growing into the hundreds. Wildlife officials consider them an invasive species and a health risk. The spring's flow has declined substantially since the middle of the twentieth century, and nitrogen from fertilizer and wastewater has fed algae that dulled the famous clarity. The attraction and the adjoining state park were combined into Silver Springs State Park in 2013.
Getting there
29.2163, -82.0526
Locations are approximate and may be inaccurate, on private land, or otherwise inaccessible. Check before you travel.
Hear it from the road
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