Small group Manatee Tour with In-Water Divemaster/Photographer
Recommended by 99% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Crystal River, USA
- 3 hours (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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Overview
One of the densest populations of West Indian manatees can be found in Crystal River, Florida. Swim alongside the gentle creatures on a trip into the river, with a wetsuit and snorkel mask included. Your guide, who navigates to the best spotting locations, accompanies you into the water in addition to taking souvenir photos available for purchase. To ensure your comfort, dry towels, hot drinks, and showers are provided.
- Swim with manatees in Crystal River, Florida
- Get up close and personal with wildlife in its natural habitat
- Wetsuits and snorkeling equipment provided
- Small group ensures a personalized experience
What's Included
- Use of Full 5mm wet-suits (for extra warmth), Mask & Snorkels
- Coffee, Hot Chocolate, bottle water
- Towel Service
- US Coast Guard certified captain and Professionally Insured in water guide!
- Boat Coats for cold mornings!
- Gratuities
- DVD or Flash Drive (available to purchase)
- Swimsuits
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- 9301 W Fort Island Trail, Crystal River, FL 34429, USA
Departure Point: Plantation on Crystal River Address: Plantation Adventure Center
End point
This activity ends back at the meeting point.Itinerary
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Children must be accompanied by an adult
- Wet-suits available in children's size 6 up to 3XL
- Stroller accessible
- Near public transportation
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Travelers should have a moderate physical fitness level
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 6 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Angela_E
Excellent tour! Warmer weather, so not many manatees, but those we did see were incredible! Guides Dan and Kendra helped to make this experience exceptional! They had so much knowledge and shared tons of stories and experiences. Would do again in a heartbeat!
Reviews
5.0
based on 760 reviews
Abby_M, Mar 2026
Amazing experience. It was late March, so we only saw a few manatee, but got to spend a lot of time with them up close. Great photos. Friendly. Knowledgeable and very respectful of the wildlife.
Deborah_M, Mar 2026
We had a great experience with Celeste and Dan searching and finding manatees as well as swimming at Hunter Springs.
We appreciated the recommendation to visit Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Refuge.
JISELLE_K, Mar 2026
It was a lot of fun! The guides, Kendra and Dan, were knowledgeable and found us manatees. They also really emphasized keeping the manatees safe and respecting them, which I really appreciated! I highly recommend plantation!!
Angela_E, Feb 2026
Excellent tour! Warmer weather, so not many manatees, but those we did see were incredible! Guides Dan and Kendra helped to make this experience exceptional! They had so much knowledge and shared tons of stories and experiences. Would do again in a heartbeat!
Libby_S, Feb 2026
Captain Dan and Dive Master Trey were amazing guides. They were so accommodating on our snorkeling trip to see manatees. Although Saturday was a touch warm they worked hard finding spots for us to snorkel with the manatees. The Plantation Adventure Center was a nice facility with bathrooms and warm showers. The wetsuits were great and provided plenty of warmth. We would definitely book this excursion again and would request Captain Dan and Dive Master Trey!
Brett_B, Jan 2026
Incredible! I’ve done this experience twice and would highly recommend for all ages! The guides are very helpful and also fun!
Sandy_w, Apr 2025
Such a great experience. We saw several manatees! We took the early excursion and had a lot of time with just our group in the water. Recommend going early to avoid crowds. The guides were amazing.
Wendy_H, Apr 2025
This was a great experience. The crew was excellent, very attentive. Loved this experience and highly recommend it.
Jessica_M, Mar 2025
Both ourt boat captain and our water guide were great. We saw 5 manatees, even while coming near the end of their migration season.
Melissa_K, Jan 2025
Great staff. Everyone was superknowledgeable and worked hard too and sure we had a great experience. Most importantly the manatees were amazing.
Joseph_B, Apr 2024
Amazing experience! Michelle and Ryan highly recommended!!! I would do it again in a heartbeat! No issues, valued knowledge and very very skilled.
Katherine_F, Apr 2024
Knowledgeable captain! Found us manatees even though it was the end of the season. Our divemaster/photographer took some great shots! Enjoyed the small group and personalized experience. Thank you Laura and Laura!
Jackie_B, Mar 2024
How informative the trip was. How beautiful it was underwater with the fish and manatees. And how hard Orville and our captain of the boat worked to find manatees for us to swim with so late in the season.
Patti_S, Mar 2024
Kendra and Corey were great! We did see 4 manatees when we did our excursion on 3/7/24; however due to warmer temperatures in the gulf, the guides were really surprised that there were still manatees in the area. I think to have a greater expectation of seeing manatees you should go in February or earlier. They don’t tell you that on the website.
Renee_C, Oct 2023
It was an amazing experience. Absolutely loved all the nature and wildlife. The manatees are beautiful. We will definitely be coming back for another adventure. Thank you so much
Roger_L, Apr 2023
We had a great team and a rrspectful, fun encounter with 8 manatees. What a party. A cool dip in a crystal clear spring topped our trip.
Brenan_R, Mar 2023
It was above and beyond everything that we thought it was gonna be. Captain Morgan kicked ass and really tried to get us into the primitive areas where nobody else was to get more personable interactions with the manatees and squeeze the tour for everything it was worth within its time limit. And it happened. 5 stars 🌟
Julie_S, Jan 2023
Tour guides were knowledgeable gave us many interesting facts about manatees and the area. We had a great time!
Cathy_M, Dec 2022
Misty and Captain Mark were awesome. We saw so many manatees. Checked off a bucket list item. I would definitely do it again.
Lisa_A, Aug 2022
My sister in law and I had a great time, we saw manatees and swam with one male in one location and a baby manatee in another location. The area was very nice and our captain and guide were very nice and fun to be with. Looking forward to going back one day.
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Wow! you got to swim with the baby! Thats special!! Were so glad you had such a great time!
Catherine_L, Aug 2022
Captain Cory and Captain Ray were the best! They went the extra mile to make sure we had a great time. Cory was very helpful. We were lucky to see the manatees up close 😊
Response from Host, Aug 2022
Great to hear! come back and see us again!
Maureen_R, Jul 2022
Excellent guide on this tour. Great pictures too. We saw several manatees and got to swim in the springs. Our guide was so helpful and polite.
Holly_P, Jul 2022
Absolutely magical experience! We took the 9:45 AM tour with the underwater photographer butter photographer and I don't think there is a better tour to take. The gentle spirit of the underwater photographer put my 9 year old right at ease and it is extremely important that you have an experienced captain so that you actually find the manatees and have interactions with them. Our captain was captain Ross and our photographer was Lucas and we could not have asked for a better team. Absolutely magical💜 we will definitely be going back to do the Winter tour
Response from Host, Jul 2022
Thanks so much for the 5 star review! Our captains are very passionate about their jobs, and were glad that shines through!
Yan_T, Jun 2022
Our guide and captain, Cory and Eric are really good. I am a little bit afraid of water, but I am taking my son on this tour so he can see the manatees. Cory made sure that I was comfortable with the water. He helped me got close to the manatees, and took some really good pictures. We had a awesome time. My son certainly will remember this wonderful experience.
Kenan_S, Apr 2022
Our expert, Misty, was quite the asset. She knew where to go and how to handle all aspects of our tour. She was very knowledgeable and a great guide. This experience was one for the memories. Such awesome creatures. I highly recommend this outfit and the earliest shift. We were a semi private group and had the Manatees all to ourselves for over 30 minutes.
Cindy_M, Mar 2022
The trip before ours saw one manatee. We were hopeful we would see a few more. Our 95 year old non-swimming Mom donned her wet suit, put on her snorkel and got into the water. See loves animals of all kinds and watches nature shows, but she never thought she would be a part of one! There were 4 of us with her along with Captain and Diver/photographer. We have photos of us and manatees. We moved from place to place via pontoon and swam within a large area. They estimated maybe 40 manatees in a very large bay when we were there in late February. Prime time for seeing them is November-January when the estimates are as high as 400! All that said, we still saw several manatees and even caught a glimpse of a baby nursing. So many people trying to see the same few manatees made the photos murky but viewable. You can purchase them for about $42 on a flash drive that looks like a manatee, which we did. Captain Ross Files and Diver Tim Miller were excellent in spotting animals for us and guiding us to them. We were on a semi-private tour with 5 of our family members aboard. What a wonderful experience....HIGHLY RECOMMEND! Request Ross and Tim and tip them well for an excellent experience as we did!
Jayni_D, Mar 2022
We were guided by Captain Christian and Corey! Water was amazingly clear and they were very I formation e and fun! It was a great time! We will be back!
Jill_H, Mar 2022
We wwwanted to do something different for our 31st anniversary. So glad we did this. The 1st time I saw them upclose in their home was an unbelievable incredible experience. Loved it!
Our guide, Jake, was also very knowledgeable, friendly and made the experience even better. Thanks Jake!
Sandy_S, Feb 2022
Our guides knew exactly where to take us to find the Manatees. First we found a group breeding!! We watched and took pix from the boat. Then found a baby who was very inquisitive.
Duncan_J, Jan 2022
Fantastic captain, great guide Henry. Their number one concern was our safety and their number two concern was the manatee safety. They were friendly, kind, and patient. They made sure we did what we were supposed to do and that we got a fantastic experience with the manatees. Hundreds of vanities, amazing.
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