As we walk down an empty boardwalk that is normally crowded with visitors, Lizanne Garcia points to an eerily beautiful - and empty - spring. It's a perfect illustration of what environmentalist Marjorie Stoneman Douglas described as Florida's “bowls of liquid light.”
"This is Three Sisters Springs," she said. "Little Sister, Pretty Sister and Big Sister. And this is where the manatees come in the winter, when the water is cold."
Garcia is the project manager here with the Southwest Florida Water Management District. She's in charge of returning much of this spring into what it used to look like. Too many manatees nosing around - and kayakers getting off their boats and trampling the sandy shoreline - has caused the edges of the spring to collapse. Garcia said that sent trees into the water, threatening to cloud the famously clear spring vents with sediment.
"This would be packed. I've seen a picture that this area had kayaks all over. You could have literally walked across it," she said. "And that may have been during the COVID, when everything was shut down."
During cold snaps, hundreds of the sea cows crowd snout to tail around the warmth of the Three Sisters Springs. About 20 million gallons of crystal-clear water pour forth at 73 degrees every day into surrounding Kings Bay. That brings scores of kayakers and boaters to this famed spot. But for now, the only sounds to be heard here are the roar of backhoes that are reshaping the landscape.
The only kayakers here hover out in the bay, pointing at the commotion and wondering why they can't visit the biggest tourist attraction in this part of Florida. Their path is blocked by yellow floating booms and steel poles sticking out of the sand.
This is the second part of a long-term stabilization project. The interior of the springs was restored several years ago with new rocks that have taken on the greenish tinge of the fresh water. Now, construction equipment is rebuilding the shoreline from where the springs empty into Kings Bay - to the curiously named Idiot's Delight Spring.
When I ask Garcia if she knows why it's called Idiot's Delight, she said with a laugh: "I do not. I've seen several things on the internet, and probably every one of those explanations is true."
Closing down the biggest draw in Crystal River was initially a tough sell here. Garcia said there was only some backlash from locals who didn't want to see their beloved springs closed - even temporarily.
"We hear that, but the overarching comments that seemed to come during the public meeting were 'there are so many kayaks, and there are so many people.'"
That's about what I heard taking a walk through the small but charming downtown to Hunter Springs Kayaks. There, co-manager Melissa Daniels cools herself in front of a whirring fan as only one customer showed up. She says business has been down - a lot - this year.
"A small price to pay where we'll get through it. We'll gladly take the loss in revenue for the continuation of the beautiful environment out there," Daniels said. "We're happy to take the hit this year, because we feel that Three Sisters Springs is more important. It's just been kind of hard to adjust, I guess."
But she says the closure it has a silver lining - visitors are learning about the more than 70 springs in the Crystal River/Kings Bay "springshed."
"So they think that since it's closed, they're not going to see that pretty clear blue water, when in fact it's everywhere. Yeah, you're going to see the murkier waters, but there are so many springheads, there'll be a clear spot in the middle of the bay that you won't even know it's there until you get on to it," she said.
Daniels described herself as "super-passionate" about the ecosystem here. And she hopes that future generations will now get the chance to witness what 18th-century explorer William Bartram called “enchanting and amazing crystal fountains.”
