I've been to Florida countless times throughout my life, but have never made it to Crystal River until this past week. It's a bit of a challenge to do this excursion because 1) it's kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's ~80 miles West of Orlando (but only some of this is on the highway, so it takes at least 1.5 hours each way or a 3 hour R/T drive) and there's really not much else in Crystal River so it's really a place you will be commuting to from another location and 2) it's seasonal. The manatees mostly come here during the Winter months of Nov - Feb, so the timing has never worked out for me before. I've either been nowhere near Crystal River (like maybe in Miami or the Keys) or I've been doing a Disney trip (and haven't had a full extra day where I could fit this in) or it's been during the other 9 months of the year when there aren't many manatees to see.
But alas the stars aligned this trip and on Monday, Dec. 28th, I swam with the manatees!
We booked our excursion through River Ventures (~$45/person including gear).
We had a group of 13 people and they put us on our own private boat which was great!
I spy a manatee! Let's get in!
Riley is ready to roll!
My husband and I.
River Ventures provided wetsuits, which was great because the water from the springs was cold!
Face to face with a manatee in the wild - pretty cool!
Supposedly this is the only place in the world where you can go to have a face-to-face encounter with these beautiful gentle "sea cows."
We went to two separate locations. Here I am heading out at our second location....
Where we spotted a mother and baby!
So sweet!
Me giving Dave a wave and a happy face after just coming up from seeing the mother and baby.
Verdict: I'm conflicted on this. Most of the time when I've had an experience with an animal in the wild, it's been incredible, life-changing and a must-do-before-you-die experience. A couple days after we did this, I asked 5 or 6 family members that were part of our group whether they would consider it a "must do before you die" experience. One of them said "yes" explaining that it was just such a totally unique and cool experience that she absolutely thought it should qualify. But the others all said "It was really cool and I'm glad we did it and I liked it, but I don't necessarily feel like this needs to be a bucket list item for everyone." I'm kind of in the middle of both of these opinions. I think it has a rightful place in the book because you swim with manatees! I mean, really - how many people do you know that have done that?! But, on the other hand, the manatees didn't really do much. It's not like they are dolphins that are flipping and jumping. So, honestly after a while of swimming next to them and watching them rest or maybe eat a plant or something, you've had your fill. I think I'm going to settle with this: Yes, you should do this. It's a totally unique experience and will make you fall in love with these gentle sea creatures. But having said that, it's also a "been there, done that, don't need to repeat" experience.
And I would recommend River Ventures. The place isn't much to look at from the outside, but the inside of their facility was very nice, they ran everything very efficiently, the boat was in good condition, the captain of the boat (John) was great and our guide (Crystal) was super friendly and knowledgeable and I thought the price was very reasonable (with taxes, I believe it came to ~$55/person including gear).
