Help Choosing Manatee Tour In Crystal River

[Noboundaries]

Lots of good info in this thread. Snorkeling with the manatees is on our bucket list.

 

[Jayde323]

Hubby (Goindrinkn) and I went to CR last weekend. The sanctuaries are not up yet (they go up the 15th I believe) so we could go just about anywhere. We saw about 10-15 manatees but it is still early in the season. I am sure once the sanctuaries go up there will be more manatee. I had one come right up to my kayak and roll over for a belly rub. Viz was great and we had a great time free-diving in Three Sisters until the snorklers showed up. There was a school of snapper that we were diving thru at the middle spring. They could care less, just kind of moseyed out of our way. Hubby spent about 3-4 hours in the water, I got too cold after an hour so I paddled around and took some pics. Got to watch an OW class , that was a bit entertaining. We go up about once a month or so in season.

If you are planning on going, book everything in advance! There are only a handful of hotel/motels in the area and they book fast! Tours and kayak rentals book up quick too!

 

[deeper thoughts]

We finally made it to CR to see the manatees and stayed at the Best Western.
The hotel is very nice, on the water and rates are reasonable.
The grounds have 2 bars/restaurants(crackers and cravings on the water)
There was a live singer and she was very good. The margaritas were delicious but the food was ok.

We rented a boat from Crystal River Dive lodge. The shop was very friendly and the rates were excellent(75 dollars for 3 hours).
The boat was a pontoon and we motored on to 3 sisters spring(very easy to find). The viz on the way there and some adjoining canals was horrible. There were about 10-11 manatees at one of the canals.
We anchored outside of 3 sisters and the viz was fantastic. I filmed a manatee for about a half hour and there was huge amount of fish life.(pix and video hopefully will be uploaded when I get back to the keys).

The manatee was very friendly and actually came too close for filming and taking pix(wanted belly rubs and scratches), I had to keep swimming away(lol)

Later in the evening we went to a beach in Crystal River(FT.Island Gulf Beach) on the Gulf of Mexico. Tons of birdlfe and a beautiful sunset but the nuclear reactor looked out of place.

 

[FLkrakr]

I would also recommend "Manatee in Paradise" 352-563-0865 and 352-601-5520.
They're working on getting a website up and running, so all they have is phone numbers right now.
Owners/captain's REALLY care about the manatees and making it a good experience for everybody. They have also been involved in several manatee rescues.

 

[Missdirected]

I don't think a single person has mentioned that "Bird's is the word". Okay maybe one or two did :tongue:

Enjoy your trip. It will be a memorable time.

 

[rydog]

The wife and I are thinking about heading to CR in the next couple of weeks and from what I have been seeing, there doesnt seem to be many people (if any) that use SCUBA. Is the area snorkle only or just that its shallow enough that its not necessary? We still would like to go but the main reason was to get some more bottom time before a trip to Belize in March.

If its snorkle only, is there a dive spot to recommend in the area to fill the remainder of the day? Warmer water would be nice...

Cheers!

 

[Jayde323]

The wife and I are thinking about heading to CR in the next couple of weeks and from what I have been seeing, there doesnt seem to be many people (if any) that use SCUBA. Is the area snorkle only or just that its shallow enough that its not necessary? We still would like to go but the main reason was to get some more bottom time before a trip to Belize in March.

If its snorkle only, is there a dive spot to recommend in the area to fill the remainder of the day? Warmer water would be nice...

Cheers!

You can scuba in CR in the springs. Kings spring is the most popular (viz is hit and miss), but I would rather play with the manatees. The water where the manatees hang (Three Sisters) is usually about waist to chest deep depending on the tides. You could spend some time snorkeling in CR then do some diving in Ginnie Springs, Devils Den and Blue Grotto (all 72 degrees). They are less than 2 hours away from CR and have some great diving (Ginnie is my fave freshwater dive). Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are within 10 minutes of each other, Ginnie is about 45 minutes north. We did Crystal River this past Thursday then Ginnie and Blue Grotto Fri and Saturday and had a blast. We stayed in Gainsville and both GS and BG were 30 min away from our hotel (Red Roof was pretty reasonable and clean).

 

[deeper thoughts]

I have to agree Birds is the word

 

[rydog]

You can scuba in CR in the springs. Kings spring is the most popular (viz is hit and miss), but I would rather play with the manatees. The water where the manatees hang (Three Sisters) is usually about waist to chest deep depending on the tides. You could spend some time snorkeling in CR then do some diving in Ginnie Springs, Devils Den and Blue Grotto (all 72 degrees). They are less than 2 hours away from CR and have some great diving (Ginnie is my fave freshwater dive). Blue Grotto and Devil's Den are within 10 minutes of each other, Ginnie is about 45 minutes north. We did Crystal River this past Thursday then Ginnie and Blue Grotto Fri and Saturday and had a blast. We stayed in Gainsville and both GS and BG were 30 min away from our hotel (Red Roof was pretty reasonable and clean).

Jayde, thanks for the info! I have been all over the place trying to find that answer. At this point we MAY be going down the first weekend in Feb but that all depends on if a last minute cruise to Cozumel comes thru for this weekend...