Caves are not a typical site for the state of Florida, this is why the Florida Caverns State Park is so remarkable. It is home to the only air filled cave system that humans are able to explore in the state. The Florida Caverns is a limestone cave; this cave has been forming for thousands of years mostly by slow trickling water carrying minerals which creates the formations you see below.
Visitors are able to explore the cave with one of the awesome tour guides that work at the park. They are there to navigate you through the many passage ways, give you history behind each room in the cave system and also warn of possibly dangerous areas. They also stress along the way that you not touch anything on the tour as the simple oils on your hands could erode the fragile formations, which took years to form. Within the caves you will find a shark tooth, Nautilus, Crawfish and maybe a bat or two while walking around the various passage ways at an average of 25ft beneath the ground.
Part of Florida History
The caves have also been a part of Florida’s history, written accounts date back to the early 1600s when the Spanish found Chacato Indians living around the area. It was believed that the Indian hunters would use the caves as shelter when needed. The Park was officially established in 1942 after the Civilian Conservation Corps constructed road ways and park facilities.
If you are looking to stay a few days you are in luck because the park also offers bicycling, birding, boating, canoeing, fishing, kayaking, full camping facilities and horse trails. All in all it was an enjoyable experience for us and I would recommend any Floridians to check the park out. It is certainly a big change from the sunny beaches we are all use to.
Camera equipment is allowed in the cave and our tour guide let our group bring in selfie sticks also, even though we were told at the front gate that selfie sticks were not allowed due to safety reasons. They allow flash on the cameras as long as there are no bats in sight but any other lighting is generally prohibited. I would suggest to plan ahead as the cave tours are offered Thursday through Monday (closed on Tuesday and Wednesday) and each tour lasts about 45 minutes.
Visit their official website for more details.