A couple years ago, I was able to clear off 3 days in January to head down to N. Central Florida for a quick trip. For 10 years now, I've wanted to try a few things in this location - dive in Blue Grotto, drift dive in the Rainbow River, and snorkel/take some pics with the Manatees. I was able to fit all this in, plus a quick dive in Alexander Springs. Blue Grotto, Rainbow River, even Alexander Springs all met my expectations. Lots of fun, very different than my previous dives, clear water. But the snorkel with the Manatees was a really big disappointment.
Here are the specifics. We only had one morning to do this, since we were flying back that evening. We went with Crystal River Watersports. It was mid-january and it was cold - there was ice on the dock where the pontoon boat resided. The water was about 40 deg. warmer than the air. I'm not 100% sure where we went, but we left the dock, motored out to the Crystal River for about 30 minutes, and came to the snorkel site. The site was a cove and was extremely shallow, average depth 2-3 ft. The boat was anchored a little farther from the cove, in a little deeper water. Visibility in the cove was horrible - maybe 1-2ft. It was also really crowded. Probably 4-5 boats at the same site. They tried to spread the people out to avoid stressing the manatees, but it didn't really work. There were many manatees there, but you couldn't see them unless they came right up on you underwater. When we swam back to the boat, the vis. was better (~5ft.) and I got a few decent shots with manatees chewing on the anchor line (which seemed bad since it's right next to the outboard).
So, to summarize, I was looking for something like this:
(credit: threesistersspringsvisitor.org/)
And what I got was this:
(My pictures)
I'm planning to go back and devote some more time to this. What should I do differently? Was it bad luck, weather conditions, wrong location? What I would like is clear blue water and a chance to observe/photograph these incredible creatures in good conditions.
Note: I'm not looking to bypass any regulations, scuba where you're not supposed to scuba, touch anything, get too close, etc. I fully support all the protections and want to abide by any applicable rules.
Thanks for any advice.
Here are the specifics. We only had one morning to do this, since we were flying back that evening. We went with Crystal River Watersports. It was mid-january and it was cold - there was ice on the dock where the pontoon boat resided. The water was about 40 deg. warmer than the air. I'm not 100% sure where we went, but we left the dock, motored out to the Crystal River for about 30 minutes, and came to the snorkel site. The site was a cove and was extremely shallow, average depth 2-3 ft. The boat was anchored a little farther from the cove, in a little deeper water. Visibility in the cove was horrible - maybe 1-2ft. It was also really crowded. Probably 4-5 boats at the same site. They tried to spread the people out to avoid stressing the manatees, but it didn't really work. There were many manatees there, but you couldn't see them unless they came right up on you underwater. When we swam back to the boat, the vis. was better (~5ft.) and I got a few decent shots with manatees chewing on the anchor line (which seemed bad since it's right next to the outboard).
So, to summarize, I was looking for something like this:
(credit: threesistersspringsvisitor.org/)
And what I got was this:
(My pictures)
I'm planning to go back and devote some more time to this. What should I do differently? Was it bad luck, weather conditions, wrong location? What I would like is clear blue water and a chance to observe/photograph these incredible creatures in good conditions.
Note: I'm not looking to bypass any regulations, scuba where you're not supposed to scuba, touch anything, get too close, etc. I fully support all the protections and want to abide by any applicable rules.
Thanks for any advice.
