Manatees

Blue Spring is the largest winter manatee refuge on the St. Johns River, and on a cold January morning the run can hold several hundred animals packed into water that stays at 72 degrees. A boardwalk follows the run from the spring boil to the river, so the viewing needs no boat and works with a stroller. This is the rare wildlife sighting that is close to guaranteed rather than lucky. The trade-off is seasonal: while manatees are present the spring is closed to swimming and paddling, which typically means mid-November through March. In summer the animals leave and the spring becomes a swimming hole.

The Fish Bowl is a floating observatory sunk into the spring, so you walk down into it and find yourself below the surface looking out at manatees, snook and mullet stacked in the boil around you. It is the most reliable close manatee viewing in Florida because the park’s resident animals are non-releasable rescues who live here permanently, joined by wild ones in winter. The rest is a wildlife park of Florida native species - black bear, red wolf, panther, whooping crane - plus a famous elderly hippo who is a naturalised Florida citizen. Boardwalks throughout make it fully stroller-friendly.

Lovers Key is four barrier islands with a back-bay estuary that reliably holds manatees and bottlenose dolphins, both visible from the water and often from the bridge. The five-mile mangrove paddling trail is protected and shallow, and the tunnels are the kind of thing children remember. The beach is a walk from the parking areas - roughly a thousand feet over the mid-beach bridge - which keeps it quieter than the drive-up beaches nearby, but it also means carrying everything, so pack light with small children. The park took storm surge from Ian in 2022 and Milton in 2024 and services have not all come back the same: the tram is gone for good, and on-site rentals have changed hands. Bring your own boat, or ring ahead.

Manatee Springs sits where a big spring meets the Suwannee, and the boardwalk that follows the run to the river passes through genuine cypress swamp - knees, dark water, and enough shade that it stays comfortable in August. Manatees come up the run in winter when the Suwannee turns cold, and the same seasonal trade applies as at Blue Spring: their presence closes the swimming. Outside manatee season the basin is open, clear and popular with divers heading into the cave system below. Campgrounds sit under the oaks nearby.

Crystal River is the one place in the country with a sanctioned wild-manatee swim, and Three Sisters is its centre - a group of springs inside a refuge where the animals shelter through winter. There are two completely different visits here. The boardwalk looks down into the springs, costs a few dollars, needs no booking and works at any age. The in-water version goes through a licensed operator who briefs you on passive observation rules, and has a realistic minimum around age six because it means floating quietly in a wetsuit for an hour. Manatee numbers peak on the coldest mornings, which is also when the water outside the springs is least pleasant.