Staying at Crystal River, recommendations?

[Torontonian]

Four of us are going to Crystal River in the afternoon of Fri. Aug. 25. Will stay there one night, then go manatee snorkel/dive combo on Sat. Aug. 26 morning, followed by Rainbow River snorke/dive in the afternoon. I'm the diver and the rest are snorkelers.

I'm also interested in going night diving on Fri. Aug. 25. So far I've found Adventure to offer night dive that night.

If we have more time Fri. afternoon or Sat. afternoon, would also like to rent pontoon boat or kayak for 1 hr or so. We'll then drive back to Tampa on Sat. Aug. 26 evening.


King's Bay lodge is sold out. There's Econolodge 5 miles up the road on US 19, very cheap at $45/rm. Days Inn at the river $60-65/rm. The dive center adjoint to Days Inn has very expensive boat rental rates. Best Western at the river is at $92/rm. The Crystal Lodge dive center, adjoint to Best Western seems to have good boat/kayak rental rates.

Although BW is more expensive, it's convenient to be by the water and to the Crystal River Lodge dive center. I'm also thinking that by the river, we can walk around and enjoy the scenery a bit at night, whereas near the Econolodge there probably isn't much to do at night. Also Econolodge doesn't have space to store our luggage after we check out in the morning, before coming back to pick up at the end of our tours. So BW is good on this point (can store luggage there rather than leave in the van)


What are your recommendations regarding place to stay? Any other things to consider?

 

[Torontonian]

Didn't get any comments before the trip. We opted to stay at the Best Western Hotel. It was the most expensive ($90/night), but the most convenient. We chose the convenience.

I had called Econolodge, and the HQ said the Crystal River hotel is no longer in their list, and is probably sold. I then called the hotel directly and they said they are still Econolodge and don't know why the HQ would say that, other than the computer has been down for two days.

Days Inn was not on Crystal River as their web site would have you believe, but is actually on an offshout of Crystal River, >2 miles away.

We went with Adventure Diving for the manatee snorkeling, and then the diving at King's Bay, and afternoon snorkel/dive combo trip at Rainbow River. Adventure diving was great, we all enjoyed their service. Will be writing more about the actual divining/snorkeling experience, but will not hesitate to recommend Adventure Diving to people.