Our family went to Devil's Den Pre-Historic Spring today, which is located in Williston, Florida. We went there while camping at Rainbow Springs,around 30 minutes away. At this time, the fee to go into Devil's Den is $15 per person. Casual swimmers are not allowed. You have to snorkel or dive. Snorkelers must be at least 6 years old. You can take your own snorkel gear or rent it from them for a $10 fee.  They also allow camping there, but the camping fee does not cover the costs of going into the spring.

Once you arrive at Devil's Den you go to the office and pay the fee and get a bracelet. The entrance to the spring is right there, as are numerous picnic tables where you can set up your belongings. We first walked down the stairs to check it out and take a picture, then put the camera away and get into the water. You walk down the stairs to go into a cave that is underground. That's where this amazing spring is located... in a cave underground! There is ample platform space so you can stand, walk, and easily get into and out of the water. You can snorkel around and then come back to the platform whenever you'd like to. There is an opening above that is surrounded by vegetation. This allows the sunlight to shine into the cave. 

This spring is so darn awesome! It's a place that people have been using for thousands of years, as evidence by the many artifacts and fossils that have been found there. The water is clear and filled with fish. Near the top there were loads of small minnow-like fish that are all around you. When you snorkel and look down deeper you can see larger fish swimming around. Snorkeling under the opening above is awesome when the light is beaming down. While we were there we also saw a turtle, a water scorpion, and a snake. The snake didn't want anything to do with humans and was trying hard to get away from them (there was a guy trying to catch it in a net to remove it from the spring). He never did catch it, as it got away into the rocks along the side, but it was clearly trying to stay away from the humans. 

We are a family of snorkelers, so we all had our equipment and snorkeled around the cave. There were several people not with us that had the snorkel equipment on, but never seemed to leave the stairs. There were some divers there at the same time, too. There was probably 8 or so other snorkelers down there at the same time as us, and some divers (but they are pretty much unseen). Like all Central Florida springs, the temperature is around 72 degrees all year. 

We loved it at Devil's Den! Its a beautiful spring that quickly made it to the top of my list of favorites. The price of admission is worth the experience you get (plus, the admission fee helps keep it from getting overly crowded). 

Two thumbs way up for Devil's Den! Put it on your list of places to check out. Natural Florida is amazingly beautiful!

- Jacqueline Bodnar

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Here is the video I took at Devil's Den: