Vortex Spring — Hotel in DeFuniak Springs

Disappointing to say the least. This review is based on camping and swimming, we did not dive.

Positive: Neat, neat water toys. Cable swing, various levels of jump platforms, 3 slides, swim platform. Like a water park incorporated into the springs. Various things to rent like canoes, tubes and such. With the few interactions we had, friendly staff (but we did witness a couple of aloof interactions with others; customers inquiring about availability, staff answering while continuing with what they were doing without looking at them). Pets allowed in camp. Easy to find, well lit sign at night.

The Big Slide was a lot of fun...my daughter loved it. The decking was very slippery on the way out, though. My daughter slipped and fell twice, I think because they allow folks to add dishwashing liquid to the slide to make it more slippery (traction tape/grip tape would certainly help).

Disappointments: Dirty, very. Deferred maintenance making things look old and worn out: Shark Tooth slide (see below), castle has a hole in the floor, metal jump platform out of order. A pressure washer and new coats of paint would do wonders for just about every corner of Vortex. No walkways or sidewalks ANYwhere; if you have someone that has trouble walking or is unsteady, not the place. That's the swim area. Didn't readily notice any bath/changing rooms in the swim area. Doesn't mean they weren't there, I just don't remember seeing them (let that sink in for a min...where are people to go??) Shark Tooth slide: Needs new coating, stairs out of the water back to the line would be GREAT, stairs on the slide look like stairs at a beach access with so much sand, needs to be pressure washed or traction strips/grip tape...my boy slipped and fell because it was so slippery his 1st time up.

In the campground: Again, no walkways anywhere. Bathrooms were disgusting (see pics)... the basics are there: toilets, sinks, showers, hand soap, paper towels and hand dryers. Towel rolls are sitting on the counter, therefore they are wet at the tops and bottoms all the time. Toilet paper is an absolute joke. I get that they're on septic and need 1-ply, but this is the cheapest they could find; shreds and flakes with every wipe. Floors filthy as are shower areas. No benches to sit down and change. Outdoor showers (right outside bathroom entrances) continually leaking leaving the entrances, and therefore the bathrooms, muddy. While they allow and promote campfires and burning "burnable trash", there are no campfire rings (???)...small scorched areas on the ground. We were in the "White' camping area (not a racist thing...they have Red, White, and Blue areas). They have power and water...our spigot was facing upwards. Not what I'd call a peaceful experience. Drinking is allowed here, not that we had a problem with that, but it does make folks loud and disregard the quiet time at 10 pm...usually quieted down 11:30-12. It is expensive, comparatively.

I'm sure this was a jewel at one time. It's just that now it's tarnished and needs polishing. It's heyday was probably 20 yrs ago. And I don't know if it's something they're doing here, but it's the cloudiest spring I've ever seen...not a crystal clear spring that FL...

Where to start..we booked room back in June and we were supposed to go dive but due to surgery, we couldn't dive but still kept it since we came up here from miami for a friend's birthday. We arrived at noon and were told by a young rude gentleman that the room won't be ready until 4 and come back then and he left. Okay..we came back at 3:50 and same person gave the room key and said middle door in that building. No number or nothing so we pretty much had to guess but didn't matter cause we quickly found our room since it was the room that was never cleaned and it was nasty. Apparently, they had miscommunication (forgot to mention we came earlier) to clean the room. A lady started yelling at someone, which we found out was the owner's cousin who does the house keeping here and there is only two of them to clean the whole place. The lady showed up about 40 mins later cause they yelled at her to come clean (pretty ridiculous) and she cleaned the room pretty well considering how nasty it was and just her to clean. I would not recommend anyone to stay here. Not only didn't they offer for a half a refund for the inconvenience, they didn't waive anything fees either. Even though you are staying on the property, you still have to pay $20 a person to go swimming. Which I understand you pay for the diving but for swimming! They also hit you with a bunch of fees. When you drive around the property it looks really sad. The place is not well kept and trash everywhere and just looks like the owner can careless. They do not have a cut off on how many people can come in, so if you are going swimming, be ready to be shoulder to shoulder. The worst part is that the swimmers are on the divers side when they aren't supposed too and nobody to tell them otherwise. The place has so much potential to be more than what it is and the amount of money this place brings in..they can also afford to hire more stuff instead of having rude individuals sitting in an office yelling at someone when it wasnt even their fault. But like I said, the owners of this place can careless. By the way, please make sure you call to confirm the room you are booking had a bathroom cause NOT all rooms on the property have bathrooms. They portable showers and bathrooms. The building next to the dive shop is the only one with each room having their own bathroom when I called to confirm before booking. Granted the shower is very very small. The room is run down looking with old shower head with no updates and the bed is beyond uncomfortable, felt like we were going to break it just by sitting on it. Please make sure you bring everything for showering cause they do not provide anything. Again! This place can be so much more than what it is..remind you divers from all over come here to dive and this is what they get when they stay here, also with swimmers having no respect for the diver side. It's sad. We will not be staying here again for obvious reasons. There are better...

Family fun for $10 a person. Pure spring water always within 4 degrees of the same temperature 672 degrees all year round always clean and pure. Humans have been visiting that sinkhole I know from studying anthropology and archaeology at least thirty-five Thousand Years and they've been in existence for millions of years at least a hundred million if not longer. It's a great dive I've done that many times my first time was getting certified and it was one of my certifications. I know it's changed hands from the original owner Connie and her family but they've done a great job with this place it looks fantastic they've added water slides DJs and music they entertain there's good security the police are on hand around monitoring to make sure your kids are safe and nobody gets off with your children so you can go there have fun and let your kids run around enjoy themselves. Pet friendly clean bathrooms and you can rent cabins and stay the night or camp. There's barbecue grills there's a band stage dive shop snack bar and lots of pretty girls in bikinis and yes you can drink alcohol as much as you can handle without being an idiot you're going to go to a little stupid but you better have friends to keep you in check so they don't have to. since the police 10 don't work and run the park they let you have fun cuz your environment where they can keep you safe if you're not out on the road you're not out in public you're in a park that they are observing the whole time. it reminds me of what it used to be like in Florida back in the old days when the police were there to protect and serve you and they still are Ponce De DeLeon. it's almost like stepping back in time with all the modern conveniences that you enjoyed today but you won't need them they're all you need there is a fun attitude and a lot of energy did Warrior drink right from the spring. if your diver I suggest you go there and died this place early in the morning before the crowd shows up but they keep you separate from the crowd anyways but you'll get a crowd of divers by 9:30 10:00. There's plenty of fish The Preserve and they like to get close to you as long as you're comfortable in the water the larger number of fish will get even closer. I probably have Dove Vortex Springs at least six times and I've never got tired of it it's a pretty simple dive you can go all the way in the cave system all the way to the back and come out and still have plenty of air left to drive around the...