Sunday, March 5, 2017

Day 2: Spring Break 2017

It was an early wake up . . . cold outside too which made me doubt our excursion today.  We would be swimming with the manatees this morning . . . the water is a constant 72 degrees which is why the manatees come to Crystal River in the winter.  We would be wearing a wet suit but 72 is still cold to me!  Colin was excited but I had my doubts he would interact after his experience with the stingrays in the Cayman Islands a few years back.  I mean these manatee are HUGE and weigh hundreds of pounds.  Let's be honest this was all about me today and if he got in the water great and if not oh well.  So we arrived, got a briefing on the rules, wedged myself into a wet suit, and headed out for the houseboat.  Our group was only 5 people which was great!
However, when we arrived at the drop area there were A LOT of other groups there.  We were warmed up with a bucket of hot water down our wet suit which made that first feel of the cool water wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  You stay warm for the most part.  I was so excited that the cold never bothered me.  We quickly saw a group of manatee hanging out in the protected area . . .
. . . the water was really clear once you got away from the people . . .
. . . and then we swam into The Three Sisters Spring where the manatee like to hang out.  Today there were none there so we spent some time looking at the fish . . .
. . . and sort of just hang out waiting and hoping one would show up . . .
. . . we watched the the natural springs bubble . . .
. . . and then we left because there were no manatee in the area.  Of course as we were almost out one swam right in so what does our guide do?
She turns us around and we follow it before the other groups notice.  Well it was worth it.  I stayed back and watched from afar but not Colin.  He was all up in there trying to get a front row seat!  I must admit it was amazing.  We were that close.  You can only touch the manatee if they make contact with you first.  There are a lot of guides above water reminding you of this and yelling often to stay back.  It was a bit annoying.  All of the photos below are the same manatee.  That is Colin with the yellow camera strap on his wrist with the camera dangling in the water.
. . . and then it was time to swim back to the boat.  As we were swimming back, a manatee just zipped by us.  Colin was so excited he spotted it on his own.
We made one last stop at Jurassic Springs but no more manatees to be found.  Of course Colin loved this bird!
I really did enjoy our time in the water.  It went by soooo fast too.  I would so do this again.  We were there at the end of the high season so the manatee were starting to go out for the season.  I think when we do this again we would come in December.  The tour was so worth it!
We made a quick stop at the hotel to shower and change into dry clothes!  Since Colin picked our meal last night, today I picked to eat at Crackers.  Of course we arrived at the busy time and the wait was awful so we opted to sit outside in the bar deck area which turned out to be awesome!  We enjoyed hanging out in the beautiful sunny weather, watching people, listening to live music and eating good food too!  The crab cakes were excellent as were the shrimp too.
It was back on the road towards Clearwater Beach.  The traffic was awful.  When I planned this I was not thinking about it being a Sunday afternoon . . . it took us much longer than I had planned, but we did have time to drop our bags and head to the beach for a walk.  I also did not think about it being Spring Break and the beach was packed with college kids and loud music.  Colin wasn't so thrilled so we left and went to play miniature golf.
Let's just hope in a few years he feels the same way about Spring Break and the beach.  We found our way back to the hotel and enjoyed watching some television and relaxing.  Tomorrow we move again.

***We booked our tour with Manatee Fun Tours which is booked by calling River Ventures.  I highly recommend this company.  Be sure to do the small group tour on the heated houseboat.  I tell you the extras like warm water in your wet suit before and after the water is amazing plus the hot chocolate was tasty too.  I always prefer small groups and the limit was 6.  We were paired with a family of three who were nice, followed directions and showed up on time.  Super easy to book and the friendly staff answered all my questions too!*** 

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