Natural Attractions

The field-tripping kindergartners leaned hard against the dock's rails, arms pointing, eyes locked on the crystal clear water of Blue Springs.

A snout broke the surface.

"Ohh!" said the kids.

"Shh!" said their teacher, worried that their exclamations would abruptly end their close encounter with an endangered species.

Next came something even more exciting than a manatee breathing: The giant, gray blob of a beast rolled.

The children could hardly contain themselves.

It was hard to imagine that something so simple, so slow, could evoke so much excitement from youngsters who had already logged time on the best thrill rides Disney has to offer.

Nevertheless, these television-jaded tots were entranced. And they should be. Literally at their feet floated a creature on the brink of extinction, one of only about 3,000 West Indian manatees left in a world where their only natural enemy is man.

Another dozen more of his kind could be seen lolling around in a sunlit patch of impossibly green shallow water on the other shore.

In the winter, manatees swim up rivers into many Florida springs, seeking the relative warmth of water that flows out of the ground at about 72 degrees year-round.

Blue Springs, in West Volusia County near DeLand, is an excellent place to spot the lumbering creatures in the winter.

But for us humans, summer is the season for springs.

Central Florida is dotted with spots where millions of gallons of water burst out of underground caverns to the surface, flowing into streams and rivers.

In Volusia County's DeLeon Springs, you can swim, canoe then fill your belly with homemade pancakes you cook yourself at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill.

At Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County's Wekiva Springs, you can get a Florida version of a sauna, soaking up the sun on one of the sloped lawns, then cooling off fast with a bracing dip in the water.

At Kelly Park, also in Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County, it's hard to beat the joy of floating down a lazy, mile-long stream flowing from Rock Springs in July.

In northern Orlando" target="_blank">Lake County, camping, swimming and canoeing down Alexander or Juniper Springs are always fun.

The beauty of these blue cauldrons of flowing water still inspires me to awe, even nearly 40 years since the first time I saw one as a child growing up in North Florida. You can't find blues and greens that color in a Crayola box.

As a Girl Scout, I camped at springs. And my family regularly trekked to Ichetucknee Springs, where we spent three hours floating six miles down the river, getting sunburns and chillbumps at the same time.

My daughter, one of the kindergarten throng leaning dangerously over the Blue Springs' railings, turned to me and told me that manatees and elephants are related.

"You can tell because they have the same toenails," she says.

Manatees have toenails? Three or four on their front flippers, the Web sites say.

Our Disney passes run out in April. Maybe a camping trip to Alexander Springs is in order for May. Who knows what fun facts I'll learn from her there?

Teresa Burney is contributing editor of Orlando Homebuyer.