Every year, millions of visitors flock to Florida to set sail on a perilous voyage through pirate-laden seas as passengers on Walt Disney World’s beloved Pirates of the Caribbean ride. For 8 minutes and 30 seconds, they engage with all the common tropes of pirate life, from eye patches and skeletons to drunk buccaneers and swashbuckling sword fights. And, of course, buried treasure.
But the pirates’ gold at Walt Disney World isn’t the only buried treasure that awaits visitors to Florida. About a 70-mile drive from Panama City Beach into the Florida panhandle, there awaits a different kind of treasure that’s lesser known but just as thrilling to find: Florida Caverns State Park in Marianna.
‘One of the most unique Florida experiences’
The only state park in Florida where visitors can take guided tours through a large underground cave system, Florida Caverns State Park contains more than 30 otherworldly limestone caves with depths of up to 65 feet below sea level. Just one of those caves, known as the Tour Cave, is open to the public. Inside it are a dozen air-filled “rooms” replete with impressive geological formations, including spectacular stalactites, stalagmites, columns and flowstones, many of which are bathed in breathtaking hues courtesy of a rainbow-colored LED light show.
“This is one of the most unique Florida experiences you can have,” says local tourism official Kelsi Jackson, executive director of the Tourist Development Council for the Jackson County Board of County Commissioners in Jackson County, Florida, where the park is located. “You can go and have about 20 different beach experiences in Florida. But when it comes to caves, this is the only one where you can go and experience a guided cave tour.”
Offered daily from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., those tours last 45 to 60 minutes. During each one, visitors explore the cool, dark and damp confines of the Tour Cave; learn about its inhabitants, including bats, mice, cave crickets, salamanders and cave spiders; and imbibe its remarkable history, including its geological formation 38 million years ago and its transformation into an accessible park by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.
Whether you’re a history buff, a geology geek or an outdoor adventurer, expect to “ooh” and “aah” out of surprise as much as delight, warns Florida resident and tourism marketing professional Dulani Porter. “When people think of Florida, they think of beaches and theme parks. … But the reality is, Florida has so much more to offer,” says Porter, a partner at SPARK, a Tampa-based advertising agency whose clients have included travel and tourism destinations across the country, including Florida. “When you’re at Florida Caverns, it’s doesn’t feel like what you would expect from Florida. You’re transported. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself looking around and saying, ‘I can’t believe this is Florida.’”
Beyond the caves
Although guided cave tours are the heart of Florida Caverns State Park, there’s as much to do aboveground in the park as there is to see belowground.
“There are incredible multiuse trails so you can go hiking, biking and horseback riding,” Porter says. “There’s also incredible camping. And if you like the water, the Chipola River runs right through the park, as well, so you can go kayaking, boating and fishing.”
You can rent e-bikes, mountain bikes, canoes and kayaks in the park, echoes Jackson, who also recommends swimming and snorkeling in Blue Hole Spring, a natural freshwater spring whose pristine, clear-blue water remains a constant 72 degrees year-round.
“We’ve got really cool, unique little springs that are hidden all along the Chipola River,” boasts Jackson, who promises a thoroughly Floridian experience both inside and outside the park’s namesake caves — but a different kind of “Floridian.” “Here in Jackson County, we are a really great and really small rural community, which is pretty hard to find in Florida nowadays. So, you get a much more authentic, raw, natural Florida experience while you’re here.”
