Manatee Springs is located in Chiefland Florida, right on the Suwannee river.  When we went there the Suwannee was flooded and so were all the Springs except Manatee. By the end of the week they finally had to close the swimming down there as well. If you like swimming and wildlife and hiking this is your kind of place. Catfish Hotel Sink is open to scuba diving and cave diving.  There's a Winn Dixie and Super Wal-Mart 6 or 7 miles down the road. Ichetucknee is about 40 miles away, its a nice drive! The Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge  is close by  and so is Ceder Key, both south of the park.  North of the park you have Fanning Springs, Otter Springs and Hart Springs. Otter Springs has a Christian theme to it, no drinking but there is camping and they have cabins as well.  On the way to Ichetucknee we saw signs for Ginnie, Poe and Blue springs.

This is the spring, a bit flooded but still beautiful. Not to scare anyone but  you just might see a brown snake swimming or in a tree, non poisonous.

The one on the left I almost stepped on (Rattlesnake)  going down to the sink trail. The ones on the right came by camp everyday! At one time there were 12 of them!

This is the biggest BAT house I have ever seen. Over 100,000 bats can live here. Its located at the Lower Suwannee National Wildlife Refuge.

The one on the left is Catfish Hotel at Manatee Springs. Believe it or not if you push the duckweed away the water is clear and this is the entrance to the cave system. Now the one on the right is Fanning Springs down the road from Manatee. It was closed due to flooding on the Suwannee!

Left is the picnic area next to the spring. Right is the level at which Manatee has flooded over the years.

About 900 ft down the boardwalk at Manatee Springs is the Suwannee River.