help me please!!

[puce d'eau]

hello!
I'm french,and I come in Florida in November for 2 weeks aproximatly;I've you few information for diving between Tampa & Venice and if you know few hotel adress or bungalow to rent i'm interesting.
I would like to dive with manatees;where are the best place to saw theme??
please if you answer me,use easy vocabulary.
thank you

 

[Walter]

Crystal River is good for Manatees if it's cold. When the Gulf's still warm, you're not as likely to find them bunched up.

Other than Manatees, what are you hoping to see or do?

You can find fossils, most shark teeth at Venice.

There are lots of wrecks off shore between Venice and Tampa, you'll see lots of huge Jewfish on these wrecks.

 

[puce d'eau]

thank 's walter
I hope visiting everglades,cypress national reserve,to go hiking ...;i'll love to see all wild animals ,crocodiles,birds,loutres,and make photos.
I like dive with sharks(little) and visit wrecks

 

[herman]

Welcome to the board.
Crystal River is the best place to see manatees. I would suggest you contact Birds Underwater for a guide. They specialize in manatee snorkeling. Here is a link to their web site. www.birdsunderwater.com

 

[RonFrank]

Welcome to Scubaboard!

You can not dive with Manatee's, but you can snorkel with them. Crystal River is the spot.

If you can drive to the East Coast to dive, I would highly recommend that. The West Coast has diving, but the East Coast diving has Reefs, and the West coast does not.

You can dive on the East Coast at many places. Jupiter, WestPalm, Boynton, Ft. Lauderdale, and then what I would really recommend is the FL Keys at Key Largo.

If you decide to dive on the East Coast, myself and others can help with hotels, and Dive Boat Operators. If you want to dive only on the West Coast, then I'm sure there are others who can help with that as I have not done much diving over there.

I Can recommend some hotels/condo's on the West Coast, but you would need to define where, and what type of place you are looking to stay. In other words, Five Star, Kitchen, cheap?

 

[puce d'eau]

thank you Herman for adress.but is it a good season to see manatees?
RonFranck:It's better to visit west coast and diving east coast and the Keys.
I want to visite the south,fort lauderdale to Keys west and everglades and manatees.
Take a little hotel in miami or near this place(what is hotel/condo's???), rent a car and visiting,2 weeks ,it's so short ,I don't want drive many hours par day.

 

[herman]

Nov is a little early, it has not cooled off much by then, December to March is the best time. The colder the temperature, the better it is for manatee sightings. The manatees are around all year but gather in groups in colder weather. These groups move to locations in the rivers where water flowing from underground enters the river. This water is warmer than the surrounding river water and the manatees use it to keep warm. I suggest Birds because they specialize in manatee snorkeling trips and are very good at finding them. The manatees are very gentle and like to be scratched, it is common to have several come to you and want attention just like a dog. It is a wonderful experience and something I like to do.

Hotel/condos = hotel rooms or condominiums (small apartments)
If I were planning the trip I think I would fly into Miami and drive to the middle Keys, the Tavernier area is a good choice. That is about a 2 1/2 hr drive from Miami. I would rent a place to stay there and use it as my home base. From there you can drive to Key West or some of the everglades in about 1 1/2 hrs. I would see the sights and dive there for several days to a week then drive up to the Fort Lauderdale area and try the diving there. Finally I would drive on up to Crystal River for the manatees. If you are interested there are a lot of attractions between Ft Lauderdale and Crystal River like Disneyland and MGM studios. You might also consider Cape Canaveral, the NASA museum is very interesting if you have an interest in space flight.

 

[CBulla]

thank you Herman for adress.but is it a good season to see manatees?
RonFranck:It's better to visit west coast and diving east coast and the Keys.
I want to visite the south,fort lauderdale to Keys west and everglades and manatees.
Take a little hotel in miami or near this place(what is hotel/condo's???), rent a car and visiting,2 weeks ,it's so short ,I don't want drive many hours par day.

Take notes from Hermans post and add to it that just a short drive west across the state from West Palm Beach and Ft Lauderdale will put you in Fort Myers. We have a wonderful Manatee Park that usually has over 100 manatee's using this spot for santuary during the winter months. Canoes and Kayaks are available for rent. I also know of a spot where some local manatee's live

 

[RonFrank]

hello!
I'm french,and I come in Florida in November for 2 weeks aproximatly;I've you few information for diving between Tampa & Venice and if you know few hotel adress or bungalow to rent i'm interesting.
I would like to dive with manatees;where are the best place to saw theme??
please if you answer me,use easy vocabulary.
thank you

Hi,

Here are some Driving Distances in FL, it's not that hard to get around, or that time consuming.

Orlando to Tampa Bay
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes Total Est. Distance: 104.62 miles

Tampa Bay to Ft. Myers
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes Total Est. Distance: 102.45 miles

Ft. Myers (S. West Coast) to Ft. Lauderdale (East Coast)
Total Est. Time: 2 hours, 12 minutes Total Est. Distance: 139.88 miles

Ft. Lauderdale to Miami
Total Est. Time: 33 minutes Total Est. Distance: 27.70 miles

Miami to Key Largo
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 18 minutes Total Est. Distance: 63.32 miles

If you started in Orlando, and ended up in Key Largo, you have covered both coasts, the Everglades in between, and end up in the Keys with under 7 hours of drive time.

What city are you arriving in?

What city are you flying out of?

Maybe we could give you some suggested routes.

 

[Walter]

Give us an indication of when you'll be here and we can probably set you up with different dive buddies in different parts of the state. We have members in Tampa, Venice, Fort Myers, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale and the Keys. The trip from Fort Myers to Fort Lauderdale takes you right through the Everglades. For Crocs (and the Florida Panther), I'd recommend Everglades Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs.