Swimming/Snorkeling with the Manatees- Crystal River Florida

We finally completed a bucket list item and that was swimming with the Manatees.  These gentle 'sea cows' are curious creatures and do not fear humans  They have no natural predators and they act like it in the water which is very sweet and innocent.  We went with SeaDaddy's out of Crystal River and we actually got a Groupon and saved a few dollars.  With this company, you rent your wetsuits through them. 

The wetsuits help keep you warm and they actually help you float as well.  They provide snorkels and masks and the equipment is very new and well-maintained. They drove us on a bus to the marina where we got on a SeaDaddy pontoon boat. 

Here is Harold the Captain and Darren get kitted out for the Manatee excursion.  These photos are shady due to the waterproof bag on the phone

We were a party of four and another couple joined us, so there were just six of us on the pontoon.  Harold took us to a couple of amazing spots one was Three Sisters.  We were provided with noodles and they help you float.  For any weak swimmers, this provides another layer of comfort for you.  It's also hard to drown in 3 feet of water.  You do get to some deeper water but only a little.

A group noodling ahead of us.  You can see the floating post buoys to the left and this is the sanctuary of the Manatees that you can not enter, it is against the law.

We got off the boat at Three Sisters and made our way into the allowed area of the Manatees. 

My first encounter with a Manatee was a medium-sized one and this was when I was going through the canal.  The canal is very narrow and it has kind of corally rocks on either side and there was a manatee sleeping to the left of me.  I hung out for a while and just watched.  I moved on and came through the canal and ended up in a larger area.  The Three Sisters area has crystal clear water because boats are not allowed to enter.  It is clear until some bonehead stirs up the bottom where the silt is.  You are not supposed to step on the bottom you're just supposed to float up above on the water and be a passive witness to the manatees.  You are not supposed to kick your legs anywhere near the Manatees.  Some people even though they go through the educational talk beforehand still end up surrounding the manatees still end up hovering over top of them still end up trying to touch them which I don't understand.   Now thank goodness it is against the law to interfere, feed or touch in any way, which is smart because Manatees are on the endangered list. It's not hard being a passive observer if you follow the rules.   After our boat tour, we went for lunch at The Crab Plant and walked into the marina taking pictures.  There was a group of six women literally swimming and chasing after this poor Manatee who sought some shelter under the dock that we were standing on and I just thought shame on you, grow a brain.

My son caught the manatee on camera trying to escape from the dim-witted women below.

Anyways back to the Manatee tour.  Our subsequent encounters were pretty continuous after I spotted that first sleeping manatee.  The manatees are coming in and out of the sanctuary swimming past you. They will just swim right under you, just hold your breath and hope you don't accidentally touch one or interfere with one.  It is scary but it shouldn't be because they're not going to hurt you they're not aggressive at all. I'm just not used to an 8 to 10 ft creature swimming underneath me at about 1-2 feet away from my face.  One manatee was coming right for me and you are not supposed to make quick sudden movements, so my son actually pulled me back or perhaps the big manatee would have accidentally nudged me??? 

We came across a mother and a baby that was sleeping and the baby woke up and looked at my son.  My son had a surreal moment and was excited about that mammal-to-mammal exchange.  He felt that the baby was going to come up and nuzzle him which they've been known to do.  But the Mom moved away and the baby followed the Mom and the moment was broken.  If the manatee comes up to you and starts munching on your hair that's okay.  If they come up to you and touch you that's fine that's not against the law.  Ethan, my son's friend captured the Mom and baby Manatees in Three Rivers Sanctuary below.

We continued in the Three Sisters area for approximately half an hour swimming around and encountering these wonderful mammals.  They have the tiniest little eyes and that's because they're directly related to the elephant family.  They have a prehensile upper lip which works like the trunk of an elephant.  They have marching molars that fall out and replace themselves due to so much chewing of the grasses and sand in the grass.  Manatees eat only grasses and there are seven types of grass that they eat in the Crystal River area.  They only come into the sanctuary areas to warm up.  These aquifers or springs release millions of gallons of fresh warm water every day.  They keep a constant temperature of 72° degrees all year long. It is like a giant hot tub area for the Manatees.  These hot springs are everywhere in the Crystal River area.

We moved on to another area with the pontoon and got back off the boat and got out and went towards the sanctuary that's buoyed off which you're not allowed to go into. There was a huge Manatee on its way out and the water here was pretty stirred up and not very clear visibility due to all of the boat propellers.  A captain of another boat yelled to us and said there's one coming your way.  We couldn't really see too far in front of our faces and then all of a sudden he or she was there under Ethan and me. Ethan is my son's friend and the Manatee swam right under us very slowly.  We just held our breath and he literally was about a foot underneath us.  Yes, we were scared but it was an unreal experience.  Once again we had no reason to be scared.

The boys caught some very good video footage and some underwater pictures.  Ethan had lent me a waterproof bag for my phone to take pictures and I proved to be extremely useless at this venture and only captured a very nice video of my forehead.

As you can see above, I snapped an excellent picture of half of my face.  I, unfortunately, did not get one picture of a manatee underwater with my phone because it is difficult to try and get into your phone with the plastic cover on it.  I tried too many times and locked myself out for the whole venture and I suck at technology.

Any good picture or video link included in this blog post will come courtesy of my son and his friend Ethan.

If you have never ever swum or snorkelled with Manatees, this is an excellent opportunity to encounter nature in a positive way because you're not interfering with them if you do everything correctly.  You are just another mammal in the water with the Manatees. I highly recommend doing this in your lifetime, it was an awesome experience!!!!

You can see to the right a large bird sitting on a tree, below are two manatees in the water, which are the dark forms, floating under the surface of the water.

To the left is a model of a Manatee at SeaDaddys educational area.

Some interesting reading for you.