Devil’s Den has been the talk of Summer 2016 here in Florida. I’ve seen it on Pinterest. I’ve seen videos of it all over Facebook. Most people when asked, “What are your plans for this summer?” Most replied with, “I’ve been dying to go to Devil’s Den! Have you heard about it?” Have I?! Everyone’s been freaking out about it! And with good reason…
Devil’s Den is an underground cavern with natural spring water inside, and with a chimney sitting right above the water. Before walking down into the cavern, there’s a walkway that takes you close to the chimney so that you could look inside (NO you cannot jump in! That’s one of my husband’s questions…). Under water, the cave will go about 100 feet deep. Only accessible by those scuba diving. It’s all very fascinating and very beautiful!
To be on the premises where Devil’s Den is located, it’s free. Going inside the cave comes with a small price. It’s very reasonable! It’ll include the fins and snorkel gear, if you don’t have your own, or you can scuba dive. Scuba Divers must be certified. You also have to sign a waiver. Once you’ve paid and got all your gear together, you can head down to the water and be there for as long as you like! That was one thing I was most curious about. Did you have a limited time in the water? You do not! I understood why once I got in.
The water is 72 degrees all year round… That is very cold water! If I were sitting outside in Florida’s awesome (I can be a very sarcastic person) 95-100 degree weather inside the 72 degree water, then that’s different. You’re sitting inside 72 degree water inside a cave that gets almost no sunlight. Sunlight gets through from the chimney, but not enough to warm you up.
If you’re wearing a wet suit, I would assume it’s a little warmer. If your snorkeling, you’re going to be very cold. The first entry into the water is the worst one. It took me over 5 minutes to get my whole body inside the water. Hadn’t it been for my husband to pull me in, I would have stood on the stairs for much longer than that. Once I was fully submerged, my body instantly got used to the water.
Swimming in there was the best part! The water is crystal clear and it’s so beautiful! There were tiny fish swimming around, you can see the rocks at the bottom. I would do it all over again. Since you are inside a cave though, in certain areas of the Den, it was pretty dark. Usually closer to the walls of the cave. Where the scuba divers go, it’s pitch black. I started to swim near it, and it frightened me a bit. One thing I would do differently is take a waterproof flashlight with me. We probably would have spent a little more time in there if we had it.
As I was saying before about there being a time limit in the water. Once you’re inside and you’ve made a few laps around the cave, there’s not much else you can do in there. I think my husband and I spent close to an hour in the cave. We had our GoPro, so we had fun with it. On your own, you’ll want to get out. It’s not like a park with numerous things to do. When we finished swimming around, we got out, took a walk to see if there was anything else to see (there were some pretty scenery), then we headed home.
When you go to Devi’s Den, if you don’t live close by, you’ll want to plan to do other things near by because you won’t be spending too much time there. Since we lived 4 hours away, we made a weekend trip out of it, and went to other springs in the area. Devil’s Den is definitely a wonderful and beautiful place to experience! My husband and I loved it! We would love to do it again, but with some family/friends next time.
If you visit their website, they provide you with other places to visit near them. They also have sister locations right outside the Devil’s Den.
If you’ve been there before, let me know what you thought of it. Was your experience different from mine? I’d love to hear from you!
