Swimming with the Manatees

Early one Saturday morning in early September I set off for the West Coast to Crystal River to go swimming with the Manatees. I had gotten a great deal on Groupon for Manatee Tour and Dive – $20 for a tour of unknown length which ended up being about three hours. My friend and I got there early and took the time to get ready and take some photos before getting signed in and putting on our wetsuits. In the Florida summer heat, I had to quickly take the top off of my suit lest I die of dehydration. The other members of our group arrived and got suited up before we all got called in to watch a video on safety for both us and the manatees.

Finally we were off to the boat and searching for manatees. We quickly found one in the murky shallows of the river. We quietly got in the water and moved over to the sleeping sea-cow. As it surfaced for air, I got a great face-to-face view of the manatee before he descended. I tried to reposition myself to allow others to get a view from the front, but it seemed no matter where I went, I always got the face view. Eventually the manatee awakened and became a little more active, but after a while we got back on the boat to search elsewhere where we could find a better view.

After much searching, we found some manatees, but they quickly left the area and so we aborted and also left. We travelled down some channels, passing some guys throwing fish guts into the river to the hungry tarpon below. Eventually we found two manatees in an area where we could interact. We all quickly got in the water and split up into two groups around the two manatees.

These manatees were much more visible and we got to touch them – their skin was slimy and rough and they have visible scars from boats hitting them. We spent a long time in the water with these manatees and when our manatee decided to leave, I took the liberty to just swim around while we waited for the other group to finish up and head back to the boat.

On the trip back, after being out for almost three hours, the boat decided to overheat and we had to make a pit stop at a nearby dock and took cover from an incoming thunderstorm. The storm passed through with several thundering booms and a torrential downpour of rain. While at our detoured pitstop, we got to watch more fish-guts-to-tarpon action – these things must have been a good seven feet long and they were hungry! Eventually the storm calmed down and we hopped back on the boat and headed back to our original location to end our trip.

For $20 this was a steal, but I think the Groupon is gone now – sorry guys! Even at full price, a three hour trip with probably an hour to an hour and a half of swimming is worth it in my books! During the winter months the manatees return to the warmth of Crystal River, so you can see more then if you can deal with the colder temperatures.

Have any of you swam with manatees before? What about dolphins or other sea life? Is it on your bucket list?

“I’m going to the concert, I’m not driving you to the hospital.” – Me being the best friend ever.