A Glass Bottom Boat Ride & History

We found Silver Springs State Park on a map and knew it was a place we just had to see. Instantly, it felt of a different era and I loved it.

Silver Springs in Ocala, Florida, is the state's oldest commercial tourist attraction and home to the largest artesian spring group in the world. Human habitation spans roughly 10,000 to 15,000 years. By the 1820s, early travelers poled small boats through the crystal-clear waters. Following the invention of the paddlewheel, the Silver River and Springs became a major commercial distribution center for Central Florida plantations growing vegetables, tobacco, and citrus. Steamboats and railroads brought northern tourists to the springs, making it a mandatory stop on early "grand tours" of Florida.

Around 1878, Phillip Morrell and Hullam Jones fitted a glass panel into the bottom of a rowboat, creating the world-famous glass-bottom boat tours. In 1924, local businessmen W. Carl Ray and W.M. "Shorty" Davidson leased the springs and transformed them into a premier theme park. They added gasoline-powered glass-bottom boats, jungle cruises, and animal exhibits.

It felt as if Disneyland's Jungle Cruise and the Submarine Voyage had combined. I absolutely loved it all. It felt nostalgic.

Our time was limited so we embarked on a 30 minute scenic and historic voyage.

It's hard to tell but this is an ancient hand-carved wooden dugout canoe, left by indigenous peoples (such as the Timucua and local Seminole or earlier Archaic-period inhabitants) who used the waterways for travel and trade. Pretty cool.

Silver Springs has served as a natural Hollywood film stage due to its crystal-clear water, lush subtropical forests, and ability to mimic exotic international jungles. The 1960s television series I Spy filmed underwater sequences here, leaving behind these props that can still be seen underwater today. In The Seventh Captain (1967), Robinson and Scott are on assignment in the Greek isles. The enemy agent they're trailing ducks into a small tavern and disappears into thin air. Somehow they end up in the water with these three large fiberglass statues—representing Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They were abandoned on the riverbed after production wrapped. Interestingly, a dedicated professional dive team occasionally cleans algae and moss buildup from the statues to keep them visible.

There was one in the Museum for us to understand exactly what they look like, algae-free.

The scenery was exceptional.

It's difficult to see, but this is the dock where several scenes from the television show Sea Hunt was filmed.

I so wish I was here in the 50s. I love this very groovy sign. Wow.

I was enamored with its Hollywood connections. Beginning in the 1910s and peaking through the 1960s, Silver Springs served as a lush, natural tropical backlot for over 250 movies, TV shows, and documentaries. The crystal-clear water and jungle scenery made it an ideal location for multiple Tarzan films, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), Rebel Without a Cause, Sea Hunt, and James Bond films including Thunderball and Moonraker. Esther Williams also filmed famous underwater sequences here for Jupiter's Daughter (1955).

I always do some reseach when prepping my blog posts. Through that research, I met Bruce Mozert and instantly became a fan. Mr. Mozert pioneered underwater photography and built his own camera housings. He also invented filter systems to accurately shoot underwater in color. His images of Silver Springs were widely circulated during the early and mid 20th century. There are hundreds of his photos, each full of whimsy.

Interestingly, in 1938, while he was on an assignment to photograph women's shoes in Miami, he heard about the filming of one of Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan movies in Silver Springs. He traveled to meet the cast and ended up staying in Ocala, becoming the official photographer of Silver Springs for the next 45 years. He served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during part of World War II and there learned aerial photography.

Mozert took advantage of the extremely clear water of Silver Springs by taking underwater photographs. The novelty and clarity of his underwater photographs were major advertisements for Silver Springs and the distribution of the photos over wire services helped the attraction bring in visitors from 1940 to 1970.

Most of his photographs feature submerged women doing tasks that would ordinarily be done on land, such as cooking, reading newspapers and mowing lawns. Most of the women were actually employees of Silver Springs. Physical tricks were often used to make the underwater scenes appear more realistic. He also took underwater movie stills for the many productions filmed in Silver Springs. Above the water, he took pictures of visitors going on glass bottom boat tours, developed the film while they were on the tour, and then had the photos ready to sell to visitors when they returned.