This year for Christmas, my sister, Jennifer, gave me and my husband an opportunity to "Swim with Manatees" when we went to visit her, her husband, their daughter, my dad and his wife in Florida. It was the perfect way to launch my year of adventures, as I've never snorkeled before, let alone snorkeled/swam with manatees.
Our tour was with River Ventures in Crystal River, FL - if you ever want to try swimming with manatees, I can't recommend this company enough. They are very knowledgeable about what they do and care a lot about the manatees - our tour boat captain actually got into the water with us at every stop to check out the area and help us find manatees, since they can be pretty elusive. Unlike this pelican that was considering jumping on our tour boat as we left the dock...
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| "You guys got any spare fish?" |
This is the best time of year to swim with manatees because the water inland is warmer than the Gulf of Mexico so they swim up river. Warm is relative, though - the water was 72 degrees, which for a New Englander is warm, but when the air temp is in the low to mid 60s, spending 3 hours in the water was pretty chilly. Hence the full body wet suits in addition to the snorkeling gear.
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| Me and my husband getting fitted for snorkeling gear |
Our first stop was in a quiet area up river. There are lots of roped off areas of the river where you're not able to swim, since manatees are still an endangered species. This stop was in a large open water area between two manatee sanctuaries. Our boat captain, Laura, was able to see the back of a manatee floating just above the water, so she knew we'd see at least one, if not more. This was the first one:
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| Sleeping away (manatees sleep under water and automatically surface for air every 5 minutes or so) |
This was the closest I got to one (and I need to give photo credits to my sister, Katie for all pictures here - definitely make sure someone in your group has an underwater camera, or you can buy a CD of photos that the boat captain takes, but those include some goofy photos of everyone in snorkel gear). I was able to get close to one other manatee at this stop as well. They are unbelievably large (~10 feet long) and very serene.
At our second stop there was only one manatee that came near - she was chomping on the ropes of another tour boat nearby then she scooted away once we all tried to get close to her.
The third stop was up a more narrow and clearer, though also more built up residential area of the river called Three Sisters. We could see the backs of lots of manatees floating just above the water surface in protected waters nearby (the boat captain said the manatees are very attuned to where the sanctuary areas are) but the groups were at least 500 feet further down channels where you can't swim.
We did end up seeing a couple of manatees in a small sanctuary area further up river where we could swim up to the edge and still see them underwater. Here is the one that was most clearly visible:
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| "Don't bother me. I'm sleeping in a sanctuary for a reason!" |
The upshot of this adventure? Snorkeling is way easier and more fun than I thought it would be. If you can see manatees while snorkeling, so much the better!
Check back for Adventure #2, which is yet to be determined.
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