The Weeki Wachee River is a river in Hernando County, Florida

Hernando County, Florida

Hernando County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 130,802. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 165,409 . Its county seat is Brooksville, Florida. The majority of the county's population is in Spring Hill, west portion of Hernando...

. It flows 7.4 miles (11.9 km) westwards from Weeki Wachee

Weeki Wachee, Florida

Weeki Wachee is a city located in Hernando County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 12. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city continues to have a population of 12. The Weekiwachee Preserve and the Weeki Wachee Springs park...

 to the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

 at the Weeki Wachee estuary. The name is derived from the Seminole

Seminole

The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...

: uekiwv /oykéywa, wi:-/ "spring" and -uce /-oci/ "small", signifying either a small spring or an offshoot of a town named Spring. The river is best known for its spring, and the Weeki Wachee Springs

Weeki Wachee Springs

Weeki Wachee Springs is a natural tourist attraction located in Weeki Wachee, Florida, where underwater performances by "mermaids", women dressed with fins about their legs as well as other fancy outfits, can be viewed in an aquarium-like setting in the spring of the Weeki Wachee River...

attraction built on the premises. The spring is the surfacing point of an underground river, which is the deepest naturally occurring spring in the United States. It measures about 150 feet (45.7 m) wide and 250 feet (76.2 m) long, and daily water averages 170 million gallons (644 million liters). The water temperature is a steady 74.2 °F (23.4 °C) year-round.