Swimming with the Manatees

[Mimac]

A group of us from the Montgomery area are trying to plan a weekend trip to the Crystal River area in Febuary to swim with the Manatees and do some diving. We would appreciate any suggestions for lodging and dive operators. We will have both divers and snorkelers on the trip. Are there any condo rentals in the area like we have on the north Florida/Alabama coast? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[philmottrek99and02]

Did you want to dive some springs?

 

[Mimac]

This will be a fast trip so I don't know how much we can fit it. I did notice it's not that far to Devil's Den - that might be interesting. The main purpose of the trip is the Manatees. Anything else will be great and we are open to suggestions. We do dive Vortex alot so springs just for the sake of springs would not be on our list.

 

[voyager29]

A group of us from the Montgomery area are trying to plan a weekend trip to the Crystal River area in Febuary to swim with the Manatees and do some diving. We would appreciate any suggestions for lodging and dive operators. We will have both divers and snorkelers on the trip. Are there any condo rentals in the area like we have on the north Florida/Alabama coast? Thanks in advance for any help!

Google Nature Coast Manatee Tours they have a nice guest book of customer comments and its a plus company for the non crowded type they only take 6 passengers per boat!

 

[cdreamer]

You can only snorkel with the manatees. You can dive in Crystal River - but not with manatees. If they come along and you are on scuba, they will quickly leave. I've stayed at the Plantation Inn a couple of times and I recommend them. There is a dive shop on the grounds that will take you out. The Inn is right on the river and it's nice and reasonably priced. If you would like to do something together with snorkelers, the drift dive on Rainbow River is very nice. There are no manatees there but it's a nice dive and the snorkelers can do it too. A nice spot to dive in Crystal River is 3 Sisters Springs, it's really clear there. The main spring - visibility is not always so good. You can rent your own boats at the shop, but if it's your first time
there I recommend going with the shop. They can take you to Rainbow River too.

 

[kmenees]

We made the trip to Homosassa Springs to do just that last weekend. It was great fun, we stayed at a place called Nature's Resort which is a camping/RV park but it also has some small cabins. The people were nice there, and the park was well kept. There are several operators that take people out snorkeling but you can rent kayaks and pontoon boats at the resort as well and go out on your own. It was lots of fun, and I made friends with a young Manatee who was intent on following me around for about 15 minutes - very cool! The wildlife park is nice too, just stay away from the back of the Hippo's enclosure!

 

[jhayes75]

I highly recommend Bird's underwater as your dive operator. You meet at the shop at 6:00am and board the pontoon boat that will take you on a 10 min ride to snorkel with manatees for about 3 hours.. Make sure you go around the sanctuary and pull yourself back into 3 Sister Springs, a very nice spring. After that you could meet at KP hole and do a shallow drift dive down Rainbow river. It is only 22ft deep but it is something to say you at least done once. I too will be there the week of Mardi Gras and plan to at least snorkel with the Manatees again.

 

[Upstate Scuba OWI]

We usually use the Crystal River Dive Lodge operation and the best western hotel right there or the Quality Inn Hotel two miles north. But you can't go wrong with diving the manatee's in the morning and Rainbow river in the afternoon. www.kphole.com is the link for the boat operator that lives on Rainbow River and can do it around your schedule.