Tips for planning your trip to swim with Manatees in Florida
Cover Photo Credit: Thierry Eidenweil / Shutterstock.com
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Swimming and snorkeling with manatees, the beloved and cutest gentle giants that graze amazingly carefree in Florida’s swamps, rivers, and coastal areas, can only be done legally in the state’s Citrus County, home to the beautiful Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge.
Why we wrote this article
The purpose of this article is to provide tips that help you understand how to appropriately plan your trip to the Crystal River and increase your chances of swimming along side manatees in crystal clear waters! If you want to skip straight to our bulleted list of tips, follow this link.
A young manatee stopping by to say “hi” in Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge. Photo Credit: Andrea Izzotti / Shutterstock.com
Important things to know when planning your trip
Visiting the Crystal River to swim with manatees sounds like a great idea, and under the right conditions, it absolutely can be. However, a lot of manatee tour agencies may not be so quick to let you know the number of manatees presently inhabiting the region, ease of finding them, and current water visibility. Many times, this is due to the difficulty of predicting how manatee viewing conditions will be, even a couple days out.
The Crystal River and associated natural springs are famous for swimming with manatees because during the coldest times of year (November - February), manatees escape cooling gulf coast waters to the region’s consistently moderate temperature springs. However, manatees don’t just like warm water, they LOVE IT and will choose to be in the warmest water they can find, wherever that is. Sometimes winter in Florida can be pretty warm (big shocker) and the manatees’ stay in the Crystal River springs can be short lived or sporadic.
Snorkelers observing a manatee in Crystal River, Florida from a safe distance. Photo Credit: Thierry Eidenweil / Shutterstock.com
If this happens, odds are you’ll still see and swim with manatees, since many live permanently in Kings Bay and your tour guide will likely be a skilled manatee tracker. The only problem: underwater visibility in Kings Bay is about 1-2 ft, whereas the average visibility in the nearby springs, such as Three Sisters Springs and Homosassa Springs, is greater than 30 ft. Because of this, a visit to the Crystal River to swim with manatees can be disappointing if you are not prepared for this possibility.
Snorkeling with manatees when visibility is bad.
In this case, a trip to Everglades National Park or the Florida Keys might be a better option for you. In both places, you’ll likely still be able to see manatees, just not swim with them. Below is a video taken from a canal-side restaurant in Key Largo.
Tips for swimming with manatees in crystal clear water
All that being said, if swimming with manatees has been your life goal since before you knew what a 10-year plan was, here are some tips to ensure you get the best experience possible:
Tip #1: Book your trip for the absolute coldest times of the year. Not the winter shoulders like November and February, but the deep Floridian winter months of December and January. This timing will be more likely to have manatees in the crystal clear springs.
Protected area in the Crystal River National Wildlife Refuge for manatees to hang out and enjoy the warmth. Photo Credit: Alex Couto / Shutterstock.com
Tip #2: If you can plan it with enough short notice, try to go during a time when the forecast has lows in the 30s or 40s (Fahrenheit) for multiple days in row - did we mention it needs to be the cold time of year???
Tip #3: Go with a guide. They will take you to where the manatees are (typically by boat), bring dive flags & gear, and most likely ensure you see manatees in a safe and respectful way. There are tour options for visitors already in Crystal River and visiting Orlando (including transportation).
Tip #4: Be patient and flexible. The longer you can plan to be in Florida with flexible plans, the more likely you’ll be there when the conditions for prime manatee swimming are just right. And heck, there are a lot of other things to do in Florida to fill your time while you wait for the stars to align. Here are some ideas:
Orlando (Disneyworld, Universal Studios, Discovery Cove, LEGOLand, etc..
Miami (beach time baby!)
Everglades National Park (swamp tours, hiking, kayaking, fishing)
The Florida Keys (beach, snorkeling, scuba diving, rum, island vibes)
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