We live near Wekiva Springs State Park so doing a boat day on the St. John’s River is one of our go-to boat days. During the winter, it is so nice to just cruise down the river. But during the summer, it gets really hot and we need a place to be able to cool off. So we like to head to Blue Spring State Park to swim. The temperature of the spring is 72 degrees Fahrenheit year-round. For me, that is chilly but when it’s July and it’s 100 degrees out, that water feels so good to cool off in.
Let’s walk through the details of what our boat day looks like.
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Boat Ramp
Our preferred boat ramp to launch at for a typical day on the St. John’s and to go to Blue Spring is at Lake Monroe Park. This boat ramp has restrooms, a playground for the kids, and two different boat ramps for busy days. When you drive in, you will immediately see one ramp but to the left of that ramp (when looking at it) is another one. There is also plenty of docking space between the two boat ramps for boats to move to, so you are not blocking the ramp. Parking that can accommodate your truck and trailer though does fill up on a busy day. So, get there early or double check that you will be able to find a space before you launch.
Getting to Blue Spring
Once you launch, if you head east (to the left), that will take you to Lake Monroe and downtown Sanford, which is also a really fun day. When we go this way, we head to dog beach and then dock in downtown Sanford after. If you have not been to Sanford before, our favorite restaurant with the kids is The Yardery. They have an outdoor area with a tire swing and games for the kids. You can walk to it from the boat dock. Hollerbach’s German Restaurant is another great restaurant in that area that we like to go to with the kids.
If you head north (to the right) though when you launch the boat from the ramp, that will take you down the St. John’s River towards Blue Spring. Take this time to cruise, enjoy the day, and keep an eye out for alligators or manatees. There are several no wake zones between the ramp and Blue Spring so keep that in mind. There are also several beach areas that you can pull over at and explore if you would like to. You will usually see people there with their chairs and cooler, ready to enjoy the day.
Close to the spring, there is a canal off the main river that we love to go down and get away from the crowd on the river. It is filled with bird houses that people have painted and then hung up there. We plan to do that one time, I think the kids will love it.
Lunch & Snacks
If you bring lunch with you, you can have a picnic at the park (or of course eat on the boat). We either do that or we stop at Swamp House Riverfront Grill. That is a restaurant that has outdoor and indoor seating. If you can get outdoor seating that is shaded then it’s nice because there’s a big open grassy area that the kids can run around. But a lot of times we can’t and it’s so hot, so we eat inside. Swamp House is about halfway between the boat ramp and Blue Spring. Not sure if it officially is but to me, it’s about halfway.
For snacks, I like to pack one of these pouches full of snacks and pack a “snackle box” using one of these snack trays.
Blue Spring
When you get to Blue Spring, there is very limited boat parking. There is no dock that you pull up to, there is a section of the shore that has room for boats to pull up to and anchor at. When we recently went, we got very lucky that a boat was pulling out right as we were pulling up. Other times, we have either had to wait or we go drive around and then try again later.
Once you get off the boat, there is only one way to go, head to where the building is with canoe and kayak rentals. Just past that is a playground, which is a nice spot for the kids to play and run around.
Then you’ll jump back on the path, there is one clear path that walks along the water. Stay on that and walk all the way until you get to the point where you can enter the water. It is a little bit of a walk, but we like to stop and spot fish in the spring along the way.
Once you get to the entry point, you can leave your belongings at the top of the stairs. There are a lot of people’s things there. But I personally would not want to leave anything valuable (phone, keys, wallet). When we get off the boat, we usually leave as much in there as we can, so we don’t have to worry about it at the spring. It’s typically our shoes and any clothing we are wearing that we don’t want to go into the spring with that we leave. For items you don’t want to leave behind in the open, there are lockers at the gift shop that you can rent, or you can bring a dry bag with you.
There are typically lots of people walking behind you on the stairs to get into the spring on a hot day, so I always prepare myself because once I get to the water, there isn’t time to try to acclimate before I go in as people are waiting. So, it can be a shock at first how cold it is. But this past time, it was so hot out that day and I was getting over heated, it felt perfect.
Two things you may want to consider bringing in with you is a float, lots of people bring floats with them, and water shoes if the rocky bottom will bother you or your kids. There is a spot to rent tubes if you want to do that so you don’t have to worry about bringing a float with you and on the boat with you. But we have always kept things minimal and have not brought floats. If we wanted to spend awhile at the spring though, I think a float would be a great idea.
Blue Spring State Park offers other things to do as well outside of swimming in the spring. There are several trails you can check out if you are up for a walk, their gift shop has so many cute things if you want to take something with you, and there is a playground that I mentioned earlier. The park also offers boat tours and canoe/kayak rental but since you brought your own boat there, you may not want to do those.
Overall & Things to Note
We love Blue Spring State Park and have gone several times by boat when we are out on the St. John’s River. Spring water is chilly for me but on a hot summer day, it feels so good! I also don’t want the kids to freely swim in the St. John’s River for safety reasons, so this is a great spot to be able to swim and cool down. The spring is connected to the river so keep in mind that it is certainly possible for an alligator to swim towards the spring. But on a summer day, there are so many people in there. The water is beautiful here and I would recommend visiting.
There are some key items that I want to make note of before you go:
- Hours of operations are 8am to sunset
- As of July 15th, 2026, a new day-use reservation program was implemented. Day guests must now make a reservation to be able to enter the park. So, make sure you do that in advance. We have not had to do that yet so that will be new for us next time.
- For those who drive to the park, the cost of parking is $6/vehicle
- You can download the park map here
- You can camp there if that is something you are interested in
- There are lockers you can rent for your belongings
- You can rent tubes or you can bring your own floats with you
- The bottom of the spring is rocky so if you prefer, you may want to consider wearing water shoes
I hope you have a great day out on the water and enjoy Blue Spring State Park! Happy boating!
