Panorama Photos II

I’ve already made one post about Panorama Photos, but I’m had many more since then, so I decided to do another one. I’ve also updated all the old ones to fix the levels and colors with Photoshop thanks to a tip one of my friends gave me.

Big Shoals State Park, Florida:

 

Florida Caverns State Park:

 

 

Wes Skiles Peacock Springs State Park:

 

 

Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park:

 

 

Troy Spring State Park:

 

 

Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park:

 

 

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park:

 

 

Wekiva Springs State Park:

 

 

Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park:

 

 

2013 Beat the Heat Triathlon at Daytona Beach:

 

 

2013 Central Florida Tough Mudder at River Ranch, Florida:

 

 

Falling Waters State Park:

Weeki Wachee Springs State Park

I went to Weeki Wachee Springs State Park for some swimming. Upon arriving I found that it was kind of like a large park with shows and rides. I stopped to take a few pictures before searching for the path to the swimming area. The mermaid show was sold out, but I wasn’t really sure I was interested in seeing it anyway; I could hear it from the swimming area anyway. Once I reached the swimming area I realized I forgot my goggles and had to run back to the car to grab them. Upon returning I finally hopped in the water.

There were lots of fish swimming around and some interesting underwater scenery. It didn’t take long for me to swim over to the floating platform and start jumping off into the water. I continued jumping into the water for a half-hour or so before deciding to head out. The swim area was large and there was a nice beach area for lounging around. The water slides were all shut down, though that didn’t stop some teenagers from trying them out anyway. Some asshole decided to grab a turtle from the deeper part of the spring and carry it over to the beach area to show his friends. If you see wildlife – look don’t touch! He was a dick.

The park was pretty cool, but of the parks I’ve been to, it isn’t very high on my list. But anyway, here’s a video from the park!

Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park

While driving down the coast, checking the map on my phone I noticed a green spot on it for Werner-Boyce Salt Springs State Park. Having an annual pass and time to kill, I stopped there to check it out. It turns out there are multiple entrances to the park and I had entered through the middle one, the southern one being the one closest to the water. Entering the park I had noticed two older gentlemen sitting at the picnic tables ahead eyeing my buddy and I as we drove up.

We parked and checked out the sign which is where we found that we wanted to enter through the southern part of the park and headed back out. As we were leaving we got more looks from the men on the bench when we realized that one of them had his hands awfully close to his friend’s crotch. I’m pretty sure one of them was getting a friendly pat-down. We left and found the other entrance and parked once more. After a short trek through the woods, we found our way to the bank of the river. There were two people fishing there, so I got some pictures and left. There wasn’t really much else to do there.

De Leon Springs and GoPro Test 2

I’ve already posted about De Leon Springs State Park, so I won’t repeat myself by reviewing it again. I made a quick stop here after Blue Springs State Park in order to get more swimming in. This was my original destination before detouring because the last time I had been here, it had been easy to find enough room to swim constantly.

This time however, I had forgotten my goggles, and being unable to see anything, it was difficult to maintain long swims. I did borrow my friend’s goggles while he wasn’t using them to at least get some GoPro footage. The water here was pretty cloudy, so there wasn’t much to see. I got a few shots and swam for a big before deciding to call it a day here and head to the Ocala National Forest to check out a couple springs there. So while this was the least impressive of the locations visually, it is still a nice place to visit and go swimming.

Here’s a short video put together of footage taken underwater at De Leon Springs State Park:

Blue Spring State Park and GoPro Test 1

Last Saturday, after running thirteen miles in preparation for my upcoming marathon, I had decided to hit some local springs for some swimming, both because I love swimming and thoroughly missed it over the past few years, especially after my shoulder surgery, but also to train for my upcoming Triathlon. While De Leon Springs was my first choice of park, as I had been there before and enjoyed the open space, Blue Spring was right next door and offered something new.

On my first visit to Blue Spring State Park several months back, the manatees were still chilling in the relatively warm spring water. This time, however, they manatees had ditched the now relatively cold spring water for the warmer water of the St. Johns River. On my first visit, I was able to walk around the park and enjoy the view, but not swim. This time, I was able to jump right in and get some aqua-cardio going.

I stayed at Blue Spring for about an hour swimming and testing out my new GoPro Hero 3 Silver camera that I had gotten the week before. One of the great features of the camera was being able to film underwater. One of the things that I missed from my other cameras was that the GoPro doesn’t have a screen to see what is in the shot. The GoPro isn’t designed to be used as a handheld camera, but instead as one mounted on the body somewhere to film what you see. So, I really wasn’t using it in its intended way. I ended up with a lot of shots with fingers intruding on the picture due to the wide lens, but I also obtained many shots free from lazy appendages.

The water was relatively shallow in the run, between waist and shoulder deep for my average 5’10” frame. There were many fallen trees and branches in the water, covered in moss and algae. Many people used the fallen wood to elevate themselves, though they were also slick and I slid off of one on to a sharp piece of rock. At the head of the spring, there’s a deep chasm where many a snorkeler and scuba diver ventured into. Not having any gear, I couldn’t venture low enough to get inside of it, but it looked impressive.

The only downside to my adventure to Blue Spring was the fact that someone stole my sunglasses, which are important for me to be able to see in daylight since my eyes are sensitive to light. I just hope karma wreaks havoc on the thief and they suffer greatly for their transgressions.

I tried to edit the videos into a movie using Windows Live Movie Maker, but after getting all the clips cut and set properly, when I went to save it, it decided to inform me at that moment that it couldn’t work with MP4 files. So after borrowing a Mac with iMovie, I have edited down a short video of my first GoPro footage.

I’d recommend Blue Spring State Park in the summer for swimmers, snorkelers, and divers. I didn’t get to experience the full depths of the park, but I look forward to returning someday to explore more. I would recommend leaving all personal belongings other than necessary swimming gear in the car to avoid bandit activity.

And so without further gilding the lily and no more adieu, I give to you my GoPro video of Blue Spring State Park:

De Leon Springs State Park

De Leon Springs State Park is just of State Road 17 just north of Deland. The springs there are wonderful. I went there this past weekend to do some swimming as part of my Triathlon training and even though there were a lot of people there, there was still plenty of room to swim around. Most of the people congregated around a few areas of the springs, leaving the majority of it open for swimming. The center of the spring gets pretty deep; I couldn’t quite reach the bottom.

The spring was a chilly, being 72 degrees in the summer heat, but it actually felt pretty good after a while. I look forward to returning in the winter when the water will still be 72 degrees and feel warm compared to the air.

We had lunch at the restaurant on site and while I’ve been told the pancakes are delicious, I was in need of meat and decided on a burger instead. The fries were good too – thin fries, my favorite because they tend to cook through and not have a mushy center like thick fries. They don’t accept American Express cards, but with how difficult it is to even obtain an AmEx….

Anyway, the spring is a nice place to visit for the day. I would recommend it to anyone in the area who is looking for something to do, especially involving water or being outside.