Blue Springs (of which there are many – this one is the private park near High Springs, FL, as seen in the map below) is a gorgeous second-magnitude spring, one of many in its area that feed into the Santa Fe river.
Blue Springs, near High Springs, FL
(photo: Blake Harvey)
The algal growth here appears to nicely frame these pictures. However, algae is not always so picturesque, and it is almost always a warning sign that the spring’s nitrate levels are too high. Algae can use up the dissolved oxygen in the spring’s water, choking out other life that inhabit the springs, such as fish.
These photos were taken in 2011, and the algae shown here is vastly increased from just a few years prior (for which I unfortunately do not have photos). It will be interesting to see what this spring looks like now. Stay tuned as I find out in the next few weeks!
