SWIMMING WITH MANATEES. BALLOONS AND WHATS NEW!!!!

[Jill]

We took our boys to swim with the manatees at Crystal River and booked a tour with Bird's Underwater. They also rent out wet suits for those travelling without one. Our youngest thought a visit to a theme park was 'the best thing since sliced bread' (his experession not mine) until he swam with the manatees and now he is hoping to repeat the experience this Christmas when we visit Florida.

[dsv77]

We are going to Florida in Dec to celebrate my daughters 18th , she has swum with dolphins already but would like to now swim with the manatees , can any one give me a bit more detail of how their trip to crystal river went ? ie did you actualy get to swim with manatees? and was it like Seaworld where you are herded into a tent to buy $100s of photographs after the 20 min swim .
Thanks

[chrissb]

Hi Angela

I swam with the Manatees at crystal river a few years ago and had a great time. I went with American Pro Diving Centre (if you put this into google you will find their website) Day started with a briefing in the dive shop, where people were also sorted out with wet suits. It was a reasonably small group, 10 - 15 I think. Then we got onto the boat and set off to look for manatees. We saw several of them and were allowed to swim with them. You must remember that they are in the wild and can swim away, if they do you cannot chase them. We found that some of the manatees swam towards us and we could touch them. Total trip time was approx 3 hours and we spent well over 1 hour in the water. American Pro Diving Centre make a video of the day, which is pretty good and you are able to view before you decide to buy or not. I did not feel pushed to buy either the video or anything else from them. Had a great day and will be going again soon with our 2 boys.

[dsv77]

Hi CHRIS

Thanks for the info we have decided , to book a tour so cant wait.

Thanks
Angela

[KerryandAndy]

if you are lucky and we have been everytime we have been there is sunset Bar and grill, last causeway before Cocoa Beach on the right we sit eat have a beer and watch manatees and dolphins in the bay. the manatees come up to the deck area because they like the hoses used for the boats. there are always dolphines in the bay. it is nature so i hope that others have a much luck as we have, been going there for the past 6 + years. the do do boat trips from the jetty, dont know times or cost.

[mistert]

Kerry & Andy,

Is there any particular time of day that you usually go to the Sunset Bar & Grill and see the Manatees?

[ShirleyD]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Madabouttigger
Hi Jayne, we went to Blue Springs State Park where you can swim in the river with the Manatees BUT you can't interact with them or touch them, if one comes near you you have to swim away, but you can get fairly close to them and if you take goggles look at them under water too. It really is a beautiful park.

Have a good one.

Diane
[/quote]
You cannot swim with the manatees in February at Blue springs, but would recommend going and doing the boat ride on the St Johns river, so informative and a great way to spend a couple of hours. You can see te manatees close up in the spring where they stay in the winter

[Jill]

The Crystal River is another place where you can swim with the manatees we used Birds Tours (try google for the address). A few years back they were still around early March so it does depend on how warm it is.

The boat trip Shirley mentions is also excellent and very informative.

[Nina A]

We went to Crystal River last year. There are several boat companies that take people to swim with the manatees. We were the only 2 people on our boat and had a brilliant time. The manatees come in from the gulf to seek warmer water for winter. I think they come in around October, the end of the season is the end of March. There are rightly very strict rules for any interaction. Areas where they tend to congregate are roped off. You cannot go into the roped off areas, you have to wait outside and hope they will come to you. The secret is to stay very still, they are very curious and will come to investigate. I didn't want to be in the water but Pete went in and had an amazing time. There was one youngster who wouldn't leave him alone, he had to swim away in the end. They have volunteer wardens who patrol on kyaks to ensure everyone is obeying the rules. It was the most amazing experience, I'll try to work out how to post some of our photos. We went to Homosassa Springs the next day and saw more manatees there. It's well worth the visit.

We also did a balloon trip in Kissimmee, would recommend it and can't wait to do it again.