Our Unforgettable Experience Swimming with the Manatees in Crystal River, FL

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Alpha Omega Family Adventures was hosted by River Ventures in Crystal River, Florida. This does not affect the opinions shared. All opinions are our own.

I’m not sure how everyone plans their vacations, but I always like to find very unique, super out of the box things to do. This experience was definitely out of the box. We just came home from Florida celebrating my 40th birthday there with some fun activities. All I wanted to do for my birthday was to relax on a beautiful white sand beach, go on a bioluminescent river raft tour, and swim with the manatees. River Ventures hosted my family on one of their tours and we could not be any happier with our experience. If you are visiting anywhere near Crystal River, Florida, you absolutely need to check out River Ventures for a once in a lifetime experience!

We learned so much information about manatees that I had no idea about! Once you arrive at River Ventures, the first thing you’ll do is watch a short informational video on how to interact with the manatees and other interesting information about them. We learned that in the summer time, the manatees in the shallow, Crystal River waters are mostly mothers and calves who like to interact with people. Whereas in the winter when the water is cooler, the Crystal River area is filled with so many more manatees who really just want to eat and sleep. While there are many more manatees in the winter, they aren’t quite as interactive as they are in the summer.

After the informational video finishes, everyone gets fitted for a wetsuit. Then, it is a very short, 2 minute van ride to the boat. Once on the boat, you get to meet the boat captain who is in charge of finding the manatees to interact with and also you meet the guide who will take your group out into the water for the up close and personal experience. Both our captain and guide were overly friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Every question that one of us asked either the captain or guide, they were able to not only answer the question, but give us tons of background knowledge as well.

Being that it was summer, the springs weren’t overflowing with manatees so we had to boat around for a bit to find some manatees. We passed a few other boat tours who were interacting with a single manatee. Our captain found this small, hidden away cove that happened to have three manatees hanging out and ready to interact. Once they anchored the boat we got set up with our snorkel gear and we were in the water! The only downside to our location is that the water wasn’t very clear since it was a hidden away cove without much water movement/circulation. But, given that there were three manatees versus just one, I was completely okay with the less than clear water!

He was a little nervous at first, but he got brave enough to join us

In our information video and also from our guide, we learned that manatees feel the vibrations of our movement, so it is best to be as still as possible. You aren’t supposed to seek out the manatees, they are supposed to come towards us. Once they approach us, we can hold our arms out and touch them if they are within reach. If you want to swim, you keep your feet still and paddle slowly with your hands. The wetsuits give us some buoyancy, but we were also given a pool noodle to float on. Once in the water, you paddle with only your hands towards the area where the manatees were last seen. At one point, I was looking out in front of me for a sea cow, but I wasn’t seeing any. All of a sudden one swam under me lifting me a little out of the water!

See the gray manatee right in front of me?

At different times, we would be looking in the water for the manatees, not see any, but then they would swim right up against us! Manatees can only hold their breath for about 4 minutes, so they are continually popping up to the surface for air. They stick out their cute little noses before diving back down.

It was so neat to see how my boys reacted to these manatees each time they approached one of the boys! Before heading out to the water, I was a tad bit concerned that my boys would talk too loud or swim too roughly and either scare the manatees away or make the other couple on this tour with us mad. My boys could not have done a more perfect job of being so still in the water and rarely talking. So if you might have the same concerns, don’t let that stop you.

Not only was it completely amazing to be able to spend so much time with these large creatures in their own habitat, it was also very relaxing just floating in the water. The temperature was perfect! I kind of fell in love with this portion of Crystal River! I would love to go back sometime to just spend some time relaxing, and of course to swim with the manatees again!

Our tour was to last three hours, the majority of our time was spent in the cove with the manatees. Once our manatee time was up, we headed to one of the sources of this natural spring fed water. It was so neat to see where the water just bubbles up out of the earth! The temperature of the water dropped noticeably as well! Because this spring source is off by itself protected from the open river, the water is so much more clear than where we interacted with the manatees.

Aiden swimming to the bottom to feel the sand where the water comes into the spring.

River Ventures offers access to all the photos/videos that the guide takes on the tour. I would absolutely recommend you purchase the photos. You’ll get access to view the photos and you can purchase however many you’d like to download. It is so affordable to just pay to get access to all the photos. It’s only $37.95 for a digital link to all the pictures!

Make plans to add swim with the manatees to your bucket list! If actually getting in the water isn’t something you’d like, they also offer wildlife tours around the river where everyone stays on the boat. Go to River Ventures to book your encounter! They have thought of everything needed to make this one of the most memorable experiences! If you choose to go in winter, they even have a houseboat tour with hot cocoa to stay warm after the snorkeling!

A fun fact that I learned after we came home was that Coyote Peterson from Brave Wilderness (my boys love all his videos, so if you haven’t watched any go check them out!) had actually gone swimming with the manatees with River Ventures a couple years ago! If you want to check out his video, I highly recommend it, click HERE!