Seeing Manatees had been on my bucket list for many years and I finally got to be in Florida at the right time, smack middle of winter, when the water is cold and Manatees migrate to Crystal River which is warmer. Going for the 06:00 trip was a bit too extreme with a 2H drive from Orlando and a 3h time difference (that would have made getting up at midnight California time), so the 11:00 tour was more reasonable and that turned out to be a good choice as the early morning weather had thunderstorms and lightening, which definitely impacted the experience for those who went early (especially as boats are not allowed out while lightening is happening).
Since we arrived a bit early, went to check out the national park:
thankfully the water was pretty clear
baby getting milk from mommy
There are many companies that offer tours, and they are not all as good. Having the right guide and a company that gets you there hopefully when all the other boats are not there, does matter.
In my case I was also interested in diving while I was there, so that steered me towards Bird's Underwater and that was a great choice: they were professional, definitely did the best to optimize our experience and in my case, I was lucky enough to be put on a 3rd boat with no one else since the other boats were full. Kudos to Bird's underwater for caring about our experience and not just shoving us onto another full boat to save themselves a bit.
pre-trip briefing
out expert guide
everyone was thrown in the water in groups, it was crowded when we arrived
Time to get in the water. I was a bit worried that the water would be too cold (21C), especially as they only offered a 3mm wetsuit, which I knew was way insufficient for diving, but turns out when swimming a lot back and forth at the surface, I didn't get cold and did not need to put the 2nd wetsuit I had requested just in case (and for the dive, later):
let's go :)
water was not clear unfortunately
The few I saw early were quick and not very clear water:
Most of the time in the water was ok but not great. The manatees were not that interested in interacting (which is normal, they are not here for our amusement :) ), and the water was so murky in places, that if one was by my feet, I could hardly see it. But around the end, the other groups had left, and I got super lucky with a baby that was curious and playful:
