Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Nick Kelly, Jacque Kelly
Date: November 4, 2021
Named after the Spanish Explorer Ponce de Leon, who sought the Fountain of Youth in the 1500’s, we snorkeled a spring pool blocked off from the large stream (which runs ten miles & later connets to the St. John’s River) by a concrete dam to create a pool-like swimming area. This freshwater spring was one of 700 in Florida, the largest collection anywhere on Earth. The spring depth ranged from 3 to 30 feet and produces 19 million gallons of water per day. At the 30 foot level there is a cave entrance about four feet wide that divers can swim vertically down 30 more feet then swim horizonal for 170 feet of cave. In the cool spring water, I saw two fish and countless white & gray snail shells, signs of Native Americans and the adjacent Mayaca Indian mounds who gathered food here long ago.
