crystal river

Crystal River.. the town as well as the river.. Both amazing places to visit, and if its not already on your bucket list.. get a pen, because it should be.. amazing.. good fun and filled with good people.

A nice village town to lay back and relax as well as enjoy all the wonderful nature sites and activities that they have to offer, and the river itself is a nice place to travel to view, snorkel, or swim with the manatees.

Even within a single company every tour is different as there are many factors at play. Manatees are wild animals in a natural enviroment. Meaning weather tides and migration patterns matter. The amount of visitors on a given day matters, as well as FWS opening and closing 3SS. All of these factors are outside of the tour operations control. What is within there control is the approach to their passengers and the well being of manatees. Ask yourself what matters to you. Manatees and visitors in a nutshell: Do you insist on using fins? Fins disturb visibilty and affect the ability to see a manatee from a responsible distance. Manatees are verg sensitive to water movements and kicking feet are obviously not thier friends. Fins also encourage following aka chasing manatees. Does your tour company use or allow the use of fins? Unattended groups have alot of fun but the manatees well being is not looked out for. Average people have no idea how to control their bodies in the water in order to not disturb manatees. There is a natural instinct for people to tread water holding their face above the water, meaning their feet are kicking near manatees they cannot see, this is obviously dangerous to manatees. People also have a hard time telling the difference between surface resting manatees and active courious manatees and offten do not respect the rules and common sense of being around them. Do you enjoy unencumbered fun or would you like a safer more respectful more structured experience? Does your company employ in water guides? Must you really pet a manatee to be satisfied? There is far too much of this mentality in my opinion, there is nothing inherently wrong with putting your hand on a manatee if it is truly interacting with you i.e. chewing on your wetsuit. But 400 people trying to pet a manatee is a very unhealthy situation. Far to many people loose track of this and begin petting any manatee they can reach, be it sleeping fleeing or trying to squeeze by to get where it is going. Must you really pet a manatee? What is your companies approach to passive observation? What is this captains approach? And please do not fault captains for not wanting to go to Three Sisters Spring, that place is a mad house durring manatee season.

drove through on a Sunday Afternoon. So many great little spots to stop and so many fun eating and camping spots. Plus river charters to see the Manatee's

Like Tampa in 1915 I loved. The only thing I don't like it was very Republican and it is not a rich village so I it should be Democrat

We flew into Orlando and rented a car and drove the 2 hours to Crystal River. Snorkeling with the manatees was on my wife’s “Bucket List.” As we came into town we noticed a LOT of pick-up trucks. Many with huge tires. A large billboard showed a stack of smokeless tobacco cans and also new “big tires” on a truck, so local residents could see how many cans of tobacco they could forego to afford big truck tires. This is somewhat telling about the locals, but that is just part of their culture. We had a good time. The “resort” in town is actually part of a discount hotel chain, but was fairly nice. If you visit Crystal River and have the mind-set that you are visiting a place where the locals like things “the way they are” and enjoy the place for its uniqueness, you can have a really good experience. You don’t visit this place for five-star establishments. But you can certainly find 4-star enjoyment in the natural beauty and unique culture.

Capt. Sean Daugherty with River Ventures not only provided us with multiple opportunities to interact with majestic manatees but was entertaining and educational. The pictures he took on the tour are priceless and will provide our friends images of an experience we hope to have many times over. Along with a number of curious manatees willing to make contact with us, Capt. Sean had us in areas to view large snook and hundreds of mangrove snapper gathered in clear water springs with little pressure from the crowds of other tourists. This excursion and organization comes highly recommended.

The manatee tour that I took was with captain Ross. He was a fun tour guide and helped our experience be even more amazing. They provide goggles,snorkels, and wet sutes. These gentle Giants Are so amazing. They come right up to you. They will roll on there backs if they want you to rub there bellies. Over all this experience is one I will never forget

Such an amazing experience! Cody @ Gulf Coast Expeditions was the best quide and was so knowledgeable about the manatees. Something I will come back to do again!Very quaint little town. Nice people.

We went on a Manatee tour on the Crystal river as part of my son's check out dives this Feb. What a blast, I'm a professional diver but just floating around watching these gentle creatures was a peaceful and never forget experience, it was not crowded and the boat we took was very accommodating. But that's for another review. We went to a small spring called Jurassic Springs where their were at least a dozen of them. Word to the wise go early in the morning to beat the traffic.

We had a blast on the Manatee tour we went on, the Manatees were everywhere and it was a dream of my wife to see them, so all were satisfied.

Natural beauty mixed in with residential, the water is the draw. Clear, full of life, and serene. Not like most areas, you have a number of channels to explore and each holds its own surprise.

We're NC school teachers and we spend most of our spare time in Crystal River. The manatees brought us here - they are wonderful creatures. Do yourself a favor and do a manatee snorkel - it is life changing. C.R. is "old florida" to a tee. Reasonable restaurants, cheap bars, kayaking, bird-watching, bicycling....its a relaxing place to live/visit.

Such a nice and friendly a place , we decided to move here. Lived on the east coast in Palm Beach Co. for too many years! Should have moved here 20 years ago! We recommend it to everyone who like old cars and bikes and nice people..

like it all, manatees ,crystal clear water, beautiful views great fun easy exercise. had a blast. would definetly go here again