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Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Wakula spring: Strange and mysterious
By Henrylito D. Tacio
RECENTLY, my uncle Carl and auntie Aida went to Tallahassee, the capital of the Florida state in the United States. Our main purpose was to visit my close friend, Gregory Ira, a former colleague at the Cavite-based International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR).
"What would you like to see while here?" Ira inquired as he was preparing our dinner. "Any suggestion?" I asked. "I really don't know. I have no idea what to see in this place."
"What about the Wakulla Springs State Park?" he recommended. "It is a pre-ice age sinkhole that is connected to an underground cave."
The following day, that's where we went. Reading the information written at the entrance, I found out that Wakulla comes from the Seminole Creek word that means "strange and mysterious waters." The place had been enjoyed by native Americans for thousands of years before the Europeans arrived. Ponce De Leon twice visited the site, perhaps hoping it would prove to be the Fountain of Youth. On his second trip, in 1521, he discovered quite the opposite. A battle with the local Indians ensued, and De Leon was hit by an arrow that would cost him his life.
The heart of the park is the beautiful Wakulla Spring. Crystal clear water flows from the spring to create the Wakulla River, one of the last pristine rivers in the United States. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated a National Natural Landmark.
According to Ira, Wakulla Springs has been studied since the 19th century. The spring was well known to paleontologists since 1850 when skeletal remains of mastodon were recovered.
"Wakulla Springs is one of the world's largest and deepest freshwater springs," Joy, Ira's wife, told us the night before. The greatest outflow of water ever measured at the spring was in 1973, at almost 860,000 gallons per minute. That's over 1.2 billion gallons a day! On the average, 250,000 to 400,000 gallons of water a minute flow from the spring's huge single opening.
Where does the water come from? "Cave diving teams, under permit with the park have explored the massive cave system, swimming 180 feet down to the spring opening, then back into the labyrinth of underground tunnels that come together to form the Wakulla Spring," our tour guide informed. "They have swum many, many miles back into the system, underground, underwater, in the dark, sometimes at depths of 360 feet. These underwater explorers have come nowhere near the end of this gigantic system, and the exploration continues."
In 1937, entrepreneur, financier, and railroad magnate Edward Ball built a Spanish-style lodge and resort. He died in 1981 and the state took over and designated it as a state park in 1986. The brochure states: "Ball designed and crated this 27-room lodge, a most unique retreat, using hand-wrought iron, marble and hand-made ceramic imported tile. Standing today as it did then, changed only for improvements in safety and comfort, the lodge is a glimpse into Florida of the 1930s."
In the lobby of the lodge rests "Old Joe," legendary guardian of Wakulla Springs. For generations, this eleven-foot-two-inch alligator kept watch over swimmers and bathers from his perch on the far side of the spring. Shot by poachers in 1967, "Old Joe" was preserved and put in his place of honor by Mr. Ball.
Our guide said that several films were made in the park. The first film shot in this place was MGM's "Tarzan's Secret Treasure," starring Johnny Weissmuller as Tarzan and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane, in 1941. In 1954, the "Creature From the Black Lagoon" was partly filmed. The movie "Airport 77" (headlined by Jack Lemmon) was filmed in 1976.
The spring and river are home to and play host to an abundance of wildlife, including alligators, turtles and birds. Nearly 200 species of birds have been documented in the park, among them limpkins, purple gallinules, herons, egrets, bald eagles, ospreys, and vultures. During winter months, the river attracts thousands of migrating water fowl including American widgeon, hooded merganser and American coot.
Do you want to see all of these? Then, contact the Wakulla Springs State Park boat tours, which operate 365 days a year. The three-mile river tour is a forty-minute cruise on the Wakulla River, to see alligators, rare birds, and wildlife up close. In addition, the tour also glides through areas where Tarzan (don't miss seeing the tree where he leaped to the river!) and "Creature From the Black Lagoon" were filmed.
(December 23, 2003 issue)
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