"It's actually one of the few rivers that flows north, all the way to the ocean,” said the voice from the overhead public address system. The narration blends with the hum of the two outboard engines as natural Florida passes by.

Flowing along Florida's East Coast is a river as old as time.

"What color would you expect Blue Spring to be?" the announcer ponders aloud. The answer is green because of the nitrates in the water.

Here on the banks of the St. Johns River, life abounds each spring.

"This is supposed to be a two-hour tour,” said captain and naturalist Jordan Ray. "The Spanish preferred these brown water rivers to clear water rivers when they were sailing back and forth from Europe."

Blue Heron River Tours transports riders back in time when towering bald cypress trees and chugging paddle wheel boats populated these waters.

"You can see more of those cypress trees on the right-hand side,” Jordan pointed out.

Today, they are gone.

In the 1800s, the logging industry cleared these waters of bald cypress trees. Jordan said some of the trees were so big, they measured 25 feet in circumference. Today he said if you look closely, you may be able to find a cypress tree dating back 400 years.

"Once a cypress tree reaches maturity, it grows one inch in diameter 30 to 40 years,” he said to the group on board.

While gators are the stars here, the message is what folks from the old country will remember.

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"This environment isn't going to stay the way it is now, if human beings pollute it,” said Steve Fry, visiting from Newcastle, England.

Steve and his wife Esme visiting from England appreciated the natural wonder still found today.

"It's a wonderful taste of what I regard as natural Florida,” Esme said.