There are few experiences where you can interact with wild marine animals on their terms. I tried it with humpback whales in Niue without much luck. I tried it with seals in South Africa to no avail. I was determined this time on my trip to Florida’s Gulf Coast to snorkel with manatees—Florida’s gentle, herbivorous, “sea cow.”
I was ready to get in the water with them after kayaking near them on not one, not two, but three occasions,. The city of Crystal River is the only place in the United States that allows people to be in the water with them.
Through self-guided means only and maintaining my ethical animal tourism and COVID-19 standards, I managed to kayak to and snorkel near manatees at Three Sisters Springs. Learn how I did it all on my own in this post, complete with photos and a video of these awesome marine mammals!
Welcome To Crystal River
I traveled to Crystal River after visiting Rainbow Springs State Park in the morning.
Crystal River is a small city of just over 3,000 people located in Citrus County, Florida. I love that there is a “citrus” county—Florida is where some of the best orange juice comes from, after all!
The main strip, North Citrus Ave, has lots of cute little art galleries, shops, and cafes to explore. Colorful, marine-inspired murals and street art brighten up the streets.
Also known as “Home of the Manatee,” Crystal River is mainly popular for Kings Bay where manatees visit during the colder months. Most sites say November to April but locals told me the best months are January through March when it’s especially cold.
On Florida’s Nature Coast, there are 50 natural springs that feed into King’s Bay keeping it at a constant 72F all year long. This makes the water attractive to manatees escaping the 55F-65F waters of the Gulf of Mexico during the winter.
Don’t Pet The Manatees
Over 400 manatees visit Kings Bay each winter and over 1,000 visit all of Citrus County.
Getting into the water with the manatees is legal in Crystal River—the only location in the United States. In the past, tour companies did not place any restrictions on tourists touching and engaging with the manatees. I am happy to report that tour companies are now much more strict despite the relaxed laws.
Being in the same body of water as manatees is against the law in State Parks. But in Crystal River, people can swim around and snorkel nearby them. In the past, touching and approaching the manatees was not restricted. But these are wild manatees and even if it was a petting zoo I would strongly warn against this behavior.
While still not against the law here, the tour companies strongly discourage pursuing and petting the manatees. Some require tourists to read and sign documentation saying they will follow their rules not to harass the manatees.
There is a roped off area that snorkelers are required to stay behind at the Three Sisters Springs site where the manatees congregate. This keeps the snorkelers from crowding and disturbing the manatees in one of the main areas where they rest.
If manatees emerge from this roped off area and approach you, then you must give the manatee room to move. Manatees are sometimes curious about humans. If one keeps approaching you, then the interaction is by the manatee’s choice. Always allow them to come to you—it’s more exciting to let a natural interaction occur anyway!
ACTION: Manatees are protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1963 but manatee abuse is alive and well. There was a terrible incident in early 2021 in which a manatee was found with “T-R-U-M-P” scratched into the algae on its back. The Center for Biological Diversity is offering a $5,000 reward for anyone with information on who committed this disgusting crime (punishable up to a $50,000 fine and one year in prison).
Kayaking To The Manatees
I decided not to accompany a tour for my visit to the manatees. Something about paying into animal tourism still bothers me on an ethical level. Instead, I decided to see if I could find the manatees on my own following some information online and using my own equipment.
I drove to Hunter Springs Park where there is a beach and free kayak launch. I love that only non-motorized vessels are allowed to launch there. It’s so nice not having to interact with big boats and trailers!
From there, I was able to follow a steady stream of other kayakers around Pete’s Pier and South toward the channel in toward Three Sisters Springs.
There also was tour companies on party boats traveling there and even some other interesting contraptions by tourists to get to the springs.
Three Sisters Springs is a wildlife refuge with gorgeous clear blue water and a viewing platform to look down on the manatees in a shallow part of the water below.
On my way up the channel, there were already manatees popping up all over the place.
Today was a perfect day because it was one of the colder mornings of the season. Manatees are more likely to congregate and stay up in the channel on the colder days. The manatees sometimes leave in the afternoon to feed back out in the Gulf but if it’s too cold they’ll stay the whole day and skip eating.
On this day in mid-February, it was still quite cold even though out of the water it was sunny and fairly warmed up by the afternoon when I arrived.
I knew I was approaching Three Sisters Springs when I saw all the little tour boats, snorkelers, and kayakers in the area. There were kayak tours there, where people hopped off their kayaks in company wet suits to see the manatees. I was one of only a handful of self-guided visitors and possible the only solo one.
I floated around to assess the area. I had to navigate snorkelers in the water and party boats carrying tourists. To be quite honest, this situation was a bit nightmarish for me.
On any normal trip, I really hate crowds and big tourist attractions. I was willing to do this since this is the only place that I could legally get in the water with a wild manatee, stay within my own ethical boundaries, and possibly have an authentic interaction with one.
But with the COVID-19 pandemic on top of it, the crowds made me really anxious. I assessed the situation and figured (a) we’re outside, and (b) as a solo traveler I can pick my way around the people.
Of course the earlier you go the less people and more opportunity to see manatees. The downside is that it’s much colder!
From above on my kayak, I could see there were many manatees inside the roped off area. They really do look like giant potatoes in the water from above!
Snorkelers were crowding around the edges of the roped off area. They are all noticeably part of the tour groups in their wet suits and riding on “noodles” for floatation. Sadly, without the tour guides and the rope discouraging the tourists from getting closer, I’m sure they would crowd around and try to touch them.
I saw where the other kayakers parked so they could get in the water. I waited for them to move away from the kayaks so I could park and stay socially distant.
Interacting With The Manatees
I hopped in the water and put on my snorkel mask and fins.
As I approached the roped off area, the time happened to be between tour companies. The entire side opened up so I could get a nice look beyond the rope and keep my distance from people.
Right away, immediately right in front of me was the most amazing sight—a mother and her calf!
Honestly, I was already thrilled by this and could have turned around a left a happy little tourist. But I stayed and watched as the calf left its mother’s side to breathe at the surface a few times and then descended back down. It seems all the manatees were staying mostly in place. They were sleeping or at least sleepy!
I figured I wouldn’t get much interaction from them other then this amazing opportunity to observe. That was fine with me! To my right was an entrance to a much tighter channel. The channel was marked to indicate that water crafts were not allowed. I saw some of the tour guides swimming up the channel so I knew it was ok for me to go, too.
I decided to check out more of Three Sisters Springs and go up the channel. As soon as I started to approach with my head face down in the water, I saw a manatee right in front of me! It was heading straight for me so I moved out of the way. I wanted to follow the directions of the companies as much as possible and make sure I was steering clear of them.
The manatee slowed down a bit as it emerged from the channel. It moved past me and I decided to gently swim along next to it about 10 feet back. I zoomed in for some great photographs of this manatee gliding through the water toward a crowd of tourists.
People mostly got out of the way, which I was really happy to see.
A little later on, watching from the ropes again, another manatee decided to swim under the ropes and around toward me. The manatee slowed down a bit when it got closer to me but I stayed to the side of it. This was another great opportunity for photos as it moved past me.
Overall, it seems that this area is so active with manatees, it almost doesn’t make sense to try to approach them. They are easily going to emerge from their resting area to take a spin through the humans. Even if it would prefer not to interact with us, there’s so many people around that its sort of inevitably. I guess we just ought to be grateful and feel lucky that these truly are gentle giants.
Check out the video compilation I made below of my experience viewing the manatees.
Three Sisters Springs
I went back to exploring the Three Sisters Springs channel. There was nobody up the channel when I went except for tourists on the pathway surrounding the springs. I guess I felt a little like a manatee—on display for the people watching from the sides. This was the case out at the roped off area, too. Lots of tourists were there on the viewing platform observing both the manatees and the tourists like we were all wild creatures!
The water up this channel was very clear. The water got clearer and clearer as I approached a large open area in the back. The water by the manatees was quite cloudy by comparison. I think this was the result of all the tourists kicking up the bottom. My guess is the water out by the manatees stays as clear as this channel when no tour groups are around.
Perhaps it is the water in this park and surrounding springs that give “Crystal River” its name?
There was a big dip in the seafloor of this area in the back. I enjoyed free diving down to the bottom and watching the dancing sunlight across the bottom. There were some fish to view back in this area. But it seems the manatees were not hanging out here like they were out in the roped off area. So I didn’t stay long!
Heading Back
Emerging from the channel, I started to feel a bit of the chill in the water. The tourists were all in wetsuits and even they were shivering. I only had my swimsuit on and no wet suit! My New York blood could only sustain me for so long in this wintery Florida water, though. Time to get back to the kayak!
I hoisted myself up onto my kayak and untethered it from the shoreline.
On the way back to Hunter Springs Park, I saw several more manatees. They’re literally everywhere!
I rolled up my inflatable kayak on the shore with only the trouble of getting the sand and rocks off of it. I love my kayak but if there isn’t a hose or a clean place to roll it up, it is a bit difficult to keep clean!
In Conclusion
I spent about 3.5 hours on this self-guided tour. That includes set up time, kayaking there, time with the manatees, kayaking back, and packing up. That’s about the same length as the paid-for-tours.
To me, there’s no better experience than an opportunity to connect with nature in the wild and on their terms. Go where they are but let them come to you! This was a great experience that I highly recommend.
I had an entirely personalized experience. I maintained my own ethical standards around animal tourism and COVID-19 safety practices. I spent literally no money on this tour—I used my own equipment, food, water, and had no fees to access anything since these were wild manatees. Furthermore, I kept on schedule to make it down to a new Airbnb in Saratoga and for my next set of adventures!
