Manatee Tour And Dive

Little else could be better than Valentine’s Day spent swimming (or rather, floating) with manatees, and Bill and Shelley made this possible. Instead of taking us to a crowded area with low visibility, they made sure to take us to another spot with greater water clarity, fewer people, and a higher probability of a manatees encounter. Several times, manatees swam right in front of me. Thank you, Bill and Shelley!

This morning we drove through a mini hurricane (not actually) but it was pouring and I mean pouring. We were very discouraged that our tour wouldn’t go out. But when we got there it was just overcast. We put our wetsuits on and we were on our way! I think our guides were Glenn and Bill. They were amazing! Having previous experience actually working with manatees these guys even gave us information that we did not know. We were very lucky and saw a ton of manatees. This is by the far the best company I have done a tour with and will be going back very soon. I love the manatees and they truly share in the passion of conservation and education. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or for help. They are more than willing to help and educate. Don’t let the chilly water scare you away because it truly is a great experience! They even had hot chocolate for us!

We received this as a gift. This had to be one of the most wonderful experiences we’ve ever had… Seeing manatees in their natural habitat. Our captains, Glenn & Kate, were wonderful. They explained everything very well so we (and the manatees) could have a great experience. They took good pictures & videos. I recommend buying the one they sell of the experience rather than trying to take your own pictures. Instead, relax and enjoy the experience. It’s extremely cold on the way back (even wrapped in towels), so I recommend bringing the hand-​warmers that one uses when camping. If using Group-​on, call way ahead. The person taking our reservations almost wouldn’t accept ours as they have a limit to the number of Group-​ons they will do. That would be my only negative about this amazing experience. They need to verify that people who have come very far (as we had done) get to go, regardless of how many Group-​ons they have already booked. Highly recommend this tour and dive!

This tour was definitely the highlight of our week in Florida. Captain Glenn and Captain Jim were very informative. We had an awesome time swimming with a mama and her calf — it was amazing! The captains stressed the importance of staying calm and enjoying the experience. We definitely enjoyed it and will be back.

We took the tour with a family of 7. While we did enjoy spending a few hours boating, it wasn’t exactly what we expected. We stopped a few minutes in for a «practice snorkel» to make sure everyone was comfortable. We happened upon a manatee (which was great), unfortunately you are snorkeling in about 2 feet of water with zero visibility. In my opinion you actually have a better view from the boat since the water’s visibility is so poor. We did see about 5 manatees during the trip and took several good pictures from the boat (since the ones we took under the water were worthless). Towards the end of the trip we did finally get to some cleaner water (still super shallow). My one recommendation would be for them to start the tour in the clearer water. Our captain (Evan) and guide (Emily) were great during the entire tour.

This was on my bucket list and it was even better than I had dreamed of. I just wanted to become a mermaid and stay with them forever! The 2 hours seemed like 20 minutes and I did not want to leave.
I got an amazing deal through Living Social. Everyone at Manatee Tour & Dive was super friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I want to go back next year and would definitely recommend anyone to go through this company.

I don’t even know where to start with this place.
Before we even got there, we asked for a lot of specific information about this trip. My mother and I went here from Colorado specifically to see manatees.
They DID NOT tell us the manatees migrate to Mexico during the summer, so there wouldn’t be hardly any there. They told us the manatees would be all over the area. We wanted to get an underwater camera, but they discouraged us from getting an underwater camera because they had «photographers» taking pictures of the experience.
Everything that could have went wrong, happened.
First of all, my mother and I get there and rent some wetsuits. They were absolutely disgusting. Some had holes, deodorant stains, and we’re just really old and dirty.
We get on the boat, on time, at about 10:30. However, one of the families was late, so we waited for about 25 minutes in the hot sun, sweating in our wetsuits. You’d think they would have looked for them or gone without them, but our tour was cut short because they waited.
Our tour guide wasn’t very knowledgable… about anything really. He was also, apparently, the experienced «photographer». His name was Bill. We wondered around the bay for at least 45 minutes before even getting in the water. He stopped multiple times to take pictures of birds. We wanted to see MANATEES, not birds. It seemed like Bill was burning time.
Finally, Bill sees a manatee. After he had left his diving equipment all over the boat, which he lazily requested we fetch and bring to him, he put his stuff on and told us to wait while he went to see if the manatee was approachable. Then he said he would come back and escort us to see the manatee in twos. He swims out to the manatee, and stays out there for 25 minutes. TWENTY FIVE MINUTES. While we watch him swim with this manatee from the boat, in the hot sun. He does not motion to us, he does not yell to us. Keep in mind, he had a snorkel, and was very near to the surface, so he could have called us over at any time.
He comes back to the boat all excited, and mentions feeling like an «excited little boy» whenever he sees manatees. We are all upset and wondered why he didn’t get us. «I thought you were behind me,» he laughed and said. He keeps talking about the footage he took on his camera. This «amazing» manatee footage that we can buy from him for 26 dollars at the end of the tour. He said he had been taking pictures of us the whole time. He mentions how great this CD is the entire trip. Really milking it.
After a while, we finally come across a manatee again. Everyone, anxious to see a manatee up close, rushed in the water. The family that was late elbowed everyone to get to the manatee. A little girl was pushed behind by a rude teenage boy, I had to pull her away from him so he wouldn’t kick her. Our tour guide was too busy trying to swim with this manatee that he wasn’t even paying attention to the group or controlling it. People kicked and pushed each other, splashing and yelling, and the teen kicked the manatee on accident. The manatee, scared and overwhelmed, swam away as fast as he could. I was disgusted by our group, but even more so by the tour guide, who was anxious to get pictures so he could sell us this «amazing» CD.
We get back on the boat. Everyone is irritated as it is time to go back already. Bill stops the boat to take YET ANOTHER bird picture. We are all pissed. Bill promised when we got back, we would all be able to see the pictures on the CD to determine if we wanted to buy it or not. It was $ 26 after all.
We went inside the shop, where a woman was arguing with a cashiers. They were trying to charge her $ 26 for pictures and $ 26 for a separate video CD. After about 20 minutes of the two older men cashiers fighting with each other and trying to figure out how to work the cash register, the flustered woman leaves. At this point there is a massive line inside this stuffy little store filled with cheap souvenirs.
My mother finally got to the front of the line amidst the horribly disorganized chaos and was informed that no; in fact, we COULD NOT see our pictures. We didn’t know what we were buying. My mother bought the CD anyway, which we were informed had both the incredible footage AND photos on, thanks to that woman who almost got ripped off.
We go to my car and put the CD in my laptop. This was just the fucking cherry on top. Pics were blurry, there were pictures of the ground, or his hand, at one point the child had the camera and took pictures, and the «amazing footage» was a couple 12 second clips of a barely visible manatee.
WHAT THE FUCK.
Please don’t go to this place. I’m sure there’s a more professional company somewhere in Florida where you can observe manatees in a fun, peaceful environment. Not this total shit show I experienced today. I never want to go to Crystal Rivers again.

So I recently did this tour for my first time. I did read a few reviews before going but I decided to make my own judgement. I can say a few things I noticed about this place:
As far as the guy on the phone/​front desk, I have noticed he isn’t exactly the friendliest dude in the world and he wouldn’t win any customer service awards, however, it wasn’t enough to deter me from trying the place out. I do think they should hire a female customer service rep to handle front desk and phone so they don’t lose business, because this guy might need a break from that. We couldn’t even rent a kayak from them because the guy just wasn’t doing it, even after we asked and looked very interested in giving them our money. So we left and rented kayaks somewhere else.
As far as the tour, we went in early July, and because of that, there weren’t that many manatees out in the water. In fact, we saw one. Please keep that in mind when you come. The manatees do not want to be in that cold spring water (a constant 72). It doesn’t sound cold, but when you jump in, everyone’s common reaction is CRAP it’s ICE COLD. Especially if you compare it to the 90 degree weather we get here on the regular. In the winter, 72 will seem warm compared to 50 degree air temp so that’s the best time to go. Plus, the manatees will be out in the waters near the springs at that time. Since it is summer time, our capt. didn’t take us out to three sisters springs, just hunters springs, and through some canals that have mostly upper middle class homes on the waters edge, which isn’t all that exciting to look at. So for the most part, the tour was boring.
So if you’re coming from far away, i highly recommend you do not do this tour in the summer, you will be wasting your money. The company does have a groupon for half price the tour, and I am pretty sure they put that up because it’s summer and they know there won’t be any manatees out there. So, if you’re doing a summer tour, get the groupon.
If you came here to see three sisters springs, I highly recommend renting a kayak and going there yourself instead.

How could an experience such as swimming with manatees not be rated a 5 out of 5!
Yes, I understand that the staff providing the tour is what I should be rating (they were awesome!) But it was a great experience that I am sure my family will remember FOREVER!!!
The two more mature gentlemen that are at the main building were very informative and extremely helpful. We personally had Captain Jesse who took us out and he was great! Talk about loving what you do, he sure does!
We got stuck with a group of folk that left a lot to be desired by, well anyone! Total trash, but we did not let them get in the way of our experience. (you can’t fix stupid)
Snorkeling is «not my thing» it freaks me out and scares me. Jesse was great by demonstrating how to swim properly and not churn up the water. He brought us out to the manatees and was patient while we took turns to see the manatees.
A couple of things that surprised us are that the manatees swim much faster than we anticipated. Other tour boats dive poached our area. They had a huge group of people that came into the area we were enjoying and the leader basically chased the manatee out of the perfect cove we had. And that made us appreciate Jesse and the company he is representing even more!
This is an experience you will never forget and totally worth trying.

I would definitely recommend this place! I bought groupons for myself and 2 kids several months ago. I called 2 weeks ago to schedule a reservation. They had the wrong name when we got there, but they also use the customers phone number as confirmation. The guys as the dive shop were super friendly — they were joking around with customers while setting everyone up for the tour. Beware– the wetsuits are well used. Mine was torn, but big deal! They’re expensive and none of them had holes in them, just a little tattered around the edges. Better than buying my own! Our captain was Matt — he was very knowledgeable and answered all my kids questions without batting an eye. He knew where the manatees usually hung out and found us quite a few to swim with away from the other groups that were out this weekend. I knew going in that this isn’t the perfect time for something like this, January would have been better, but there was no way I was putting my kids through that mid-​winter! Anyway overall I think the company did a wonderful job and I won’t hesitate to use them again or recommend them to others.

Would’ve liked to have used this company since I purchased 3 Groupons for my family. After trying to book a reservation with them and being treated so rudely on the phone, I didn’t want to give them my business.
Here’s the conversation: Me: «Hi, do you have Friday available for 3 people?» Man: «I do if you’re paying cash, I don’t if you’re using Groupons.» Mind you, there are no restrictions on the Groupons. He continues: «We’re completely booked for the next 3 weekends (which is Friday — Sunday) for Groupons.» So I make a reservation for middle of the week (completely inconvenient). He asks for the voucher numbers and I ask him to hold on while I retrieve them. He says, «I can’t wait, I’m too busy. Call back with those numbers.» On a side note, my husband was treated rudely, as well, when he called on a separate occasion.
I got my money back from Groupon.

This visit was an AWESOME experience! We went out on the 10:00 tour with Captain Jones, and he was a great guide! He pointed out manatees as we were riding out on the boat and continued to point them out after we got in the water. We saw at least a hundred manatees! After snorkeling, he even had hot chocolate on the boat for us so that we could warm up. This was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had!

Bryan was our guide. This was my 3^rd time swimming with manatees. I wasn’t impressed with this company. We spent almost the entire trip in areas where there were very little manatees. I asked why we couldn’t go closer to the sanctuaries (sisters area) and was told it was too crowded. When we finally got there hardly anyone was there. Lots of manatees there. I was disappointed we couldn’t spend more time there. Just when it was getting fun we were told we had to leave. Our guide treated us like little kids and was always on top of us giving us orders. Very annoying. I wouldn’t recommend this tour company.

This was my second time going on a tour with this group. My first experience was absolutely incredible, so I got some friends of mine to join in this time. I told them we had to go now in January because that’s when the most manatees would be out. So we bought our groupons, booked the date, and drove out an hour and a half.
We get there and watch an instructional video, then they tell us there that today we can’t touch any manatees. I was just there a few months earlier and we were allowed to so this threw me off a bit.
We went out to a tiny spring to practice snorkeling and while there we get to see one manatee. Captain then says this is probably the best experience we will have today, which made me question if we’d get out in the water again. He then drove us to the busy parts where there were a lot of other boats, snorkelers, and manatees… and unfortunately wouldn’t let us off the boat. Then we got to the spring that was roped off cause there were hundreds of manatees. He stopped the boat so we could see, but wouldn’t let us get out and said «The view is better from up here». I really wanted to get an underwater perspective, it was something I was looking so forward to.
So it was pretty much a sightseeing tour of manatees and we got to watch other snorkerlers get a hands on experience that was very much lacking in this trip.
If I had known this company was trying not to do as much interaction and it would be this way, I wouldn’t have bought the groupons. My friends were a bit disappointed too. I more than likely won’t go back despite the great first experience.

The trip includes the wetsuit and snorkel gear. Definitely go in January to see the most manatees but try for the morning group, because it was very busy in the river when I went. The kayakers and other passerby were disturbing the manatees and many swam down stream to other areas. (We still saw plenty).
Our captain, Casey, was great and very knowledgeable. He and the company truly care about the ecology of the river and the manatees. They taught us proper etiquette and how to swim without disturbing them. The company also takes awesome video and pictures to purchase for $ 25 at the end. I will definitely be back!

We did a manatee tour here on a Tuesday. I forgot to tip so I thought I’d leave a review instead. Casey was a great captain and we saw quite a couple manatees on the tour. It was kind of cold though, so Unilocalers, please bring your towels on to the boat (seems obvious now).

We came as a family with our own kayaks because next to this business is a public kayak launch. I went in to ask if I could rent a wet suit for my daughter, 3 years old, and was RUDELY told by the woman behind the counter she didn’t want to rent to me, she wanted to save them for those that booked tours. They weren’t busy at all. It would’ve been nicer to say, «sorry, we can’t rent one to you, but we could sell you one» or something to that effect. The staff seemed embarrassed by her response.
In contrast, another manatee company boat captain, that does business near the Days Inn, we met on the water offered us to tie up to him and even offered to let us climb onto his boat then step back into our own kayaks. A little kindness goes a long way.

This was amazing! I want to go every weekend! Captain Casey was great and the manatees were so sweet and wonderful. I wish I had been more aware of how cold it would be. I suggest buying hand warmers and some booties for your feet in addition to lots of towels and a knit cap!

This is possibly the coolest thing I have ever done! My husband and I took 5 of our kids and we all loved every minute. Captain Casey was knowledgable and so friendly. They were very focused on telling us what was acceptable and unacceptable behavior in the water and did a great job preparing us. We found a groupon add which gave us bogo on adults and $ 10 for kids.
Seeing the manatees up close was amazing. You cannot understand how big and gentle they are until you are within inches of one. Captain Casey was very understanding with the kids, and was continually pointing us in the right direction as to where the manatees were.
You need to be a good simmer and not afraid of water to enjoy this tour, kids under 10 might get scared and have trouble being quiet. Using the snorkel equipment and not kicking is also very hard for them. Two of our kids (ages 8 and 9) got very scared, but enjoyed watching from the boat. The rest of us enjoyed it and can’t wait to come back in winter when there are hundreds.

This was a groupon find. We drove from tampa and it was overall a good time. The first time I called to book my appointment the gentleman was kind of rude so I just called back because of his attitude.
We got there early as instructed and were given out wetsuits. We went to the bathrooms and changed. A few minutes later we watched a video on the laws out in the water.
We loaded up on the boat and he took us out a little bit and we hopped in the water. For a while we were swimming with a mom and her baby. Soon we spotted a third manatee and we were with the three.
He then took us to the three sister springs and we got to swim there. The water was crystal clear and a bit chilly but at the same time really refreshing. When were done swimming he took us back.
They have a store with snacks, towels, shirts, jackets and other manatee goodies to take home. There also a shower and restroom area.