Our Trip To Ginnie Springs

Sunday last, Matt and I packed our bags for a quick 24 hour trip to Ginnie Springs, in High Springs, Florida, about an hour and a half from our doorstep. Our friends, Hillary and Jason, picked us up bright and early, we loaded up their SUV, and hit the road. By noon, we were filling up our rafts, setting up camp, and getting ready to jump in the water. 

The best part about our unconventional jobs (Hillary and Jason also work the same Saturday market that I do, they own Fresh Jax), is that arriving on a Sunday, everyone else is packing up and heading home. By lunch time, the party is winding down for the other park guests, and we're just starting our vacation. Around 5pm, it beginning to clear out, and by dinner, it's desolate and we're swimming for a second time, the park is close to empty. Oh, and did I mention, we are camping right on the river. 

Aside from camping and the amazing river, Ginnie Springs is a natural spring, with canyons beneath the surface, if you're reading this and haven't watched the video at the beginning of this post, scroll back up and watch it. It's amazing how we're just floating along, and then a scuba diver pops up from the underwater canyons below. 

After sunset, when the river cleared out, and the last swimmers went back to camp, which I'm pretty sure was less than 20 people in the entire park besides us, we could really see the clear water, and just how terrifying the holes in the ground were. Terrifying and breathtaking at the same time. It's crazy to see the hole below the surface of the water, and know that people opt to swim down there with tanks of oxygen. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to dive down into the underwater caverns. But until then, I'll stay near the surface, where I can breathe on my own, and dive down with a snorkel and face mask. We camped out, enjoyed veggie burgers, brats for dinner cooked over the fire, and then woke up to another beautiful day. 

Although our trip was short, and we soon had to pack up to head back to civilization, Matt still had his morning work, and we laughed as he walked around aimlessly to try to find a signal with his laptop's mobile Wifi. I made friends with a chubby squirrel that mistook my camera's focus sound for food. He was silly. And it was by far my favorite camping trip. I can't wait to go back.

ALSO! For more info on Ginnie Springs, visit their website, and for more video from our trip, check out the video Matt shot for work, HERE.