Swimming with Manatees

22 Jun 2023

Another early morning for me, as I had booked a morning manatee snorkel out in Crystal River, which was a little over 2 hours away from where we were staying. I gave myself an extra hour to get there- I’d rather be early than late- and was very thankful for the spare time when I took a wrong turn leaving Orlando.

I figured I’d just get off at the next exit and turn around, but the next exit was Disney employee parking so I couldn’t turn around, and the exit I did manage to find dumped me out onto a toll road going the wrong way. I was very thankful to have a phone with GPS that could get me out and headed back in the right direction, even if I did have to use some data 😉

Even with the false start, I arrived with a few minutes to spare. There are a lot of different companies in the area that offer manatee snorkel tours, but I picked Nature’s Discovery because they cap their group size at 6 and they take pictures throughout, which they provide for free at the end. Yes, they cost a bit more than other operations, but the small group size alone was enough for me (I’ve been on many dive boats where we are packed in like sardines and there are people swarming everywhere, usually scaring off whatever I’m trying to photograph).

As it turned out, I was the only one booked for the morning tour! I’m not sure if the weather scared people away (it’s been raining on and off all week) or what, but I got my own, personal tour! Here’s me (and Jake, the owner, in the background) getting ready to check out my first manatee!

They provide a 3mm wetsuit, though I seriously considered bringing my own thicker suit or at least my sharkskin to wear underneath to keep my warm as the water temps are about 72* year-round. But I ran out of room in my bag (I was traveling with a personal item (my backpack) only- no checked bags, no bags in the overhead bin) and didn’t think to send some extra gear with Matt (who drove down to FL). The water was frigid and I was definitely shivering, but look!!! My first manatee!!!

While June is not prime-manatee season (most have left King’s Bay, where we were hunting, for the warmer waters of the Gulf), there are still many manatees, especially older ones, who live in the bay year-round, opting for an easy meal and protected home rather than migrating to warmer locations.

This guy was especially active, munching his way along the bottom of the bay:

If you stick your head underwater, you can actually hear them eating!

He used his front fins to “walk” along the bottom:

His body is covered in long tactile hairs that are incredibly sensitive to vibrations:

Even though he was focused on eating and surfacing every few minutes to breathe, he definitely knew where we were and never bumped into us:

(he’s also a messy eater- the water was clear-ish when we first spotted him, but quickly clouded up with all his rooting around)

I know it looks like I’m petting him, but I promise I’m not! His nose has a higher concentration of vibrissae (tactile hairs) which helps him find food as his eyesight is pretty terrible:

Manatees eat at least 10% of the their body weight each day (and they can easily weigh 1000lbs when full grown!) so they spend a good portion of the day eating. Most of the grass seen here is a variety of eelgrass called “Rock Star”. While the bay itself is fresh water, this grass was developed by the University of Floria to be salt-tolerant, so when hurricanes come through and throw salt water into the bay, it can survive.

Manatees find it quite tasty!

They prefer to eat the roots, so the grass itself often floats away and collects in piles around the bay.

When swimming around manatees, you’re supposed to swim more with your hands and less with your feet to minimize splashing so as not to stress them:

but as a diver who has been trained to not use my hands when swimming, I seriously struggled! This guy was active and I didn’t want to inadvertently bump into him, but I’m just not graceful on the surface when I’m trying to maneuver with just my hands. I may have brushed against him once (he was rougher than I thought he’d be- more leathery and less slimy- very tough skinned).

(not petting!)

Because they are so tough-skinned and solid, manatees don’t really have any predators. The biggest threat to them is humans (and their boats).

Manatees close their nostrils while under water:

While active they come up for air every 5 minutes or so, though this guy kept munching away as he surfaced:

and this is why there’s grass floating everywhere in the bay!

I saw a few small fish swim by, but missed this cute little catfish:

I lasted for about half and hour, but the cold was really getting to me and I was no longer shivering, so it was time to get on the boat and warm back up.

Farewell, friend!

Jake drove the boat around the bay, and he and Hina (my in-water guide who’s been taking all the pictures) talked about the history of the area, how it became a manatee sanctuary and pointed out wildlife along the way. They were both incredibly knowledgeable about the area and passionate about manatees and conservation.

We had driven past another group who had found a manatee and, when we didn’t find another one of our own, joined them (all the boats/companies seem to know each other- Jake actually worked for another company before starting his own business).

This manatee was sleeping, which made it much easier to swim around and check him out- didn’t need to worry as much about trying to stay out of his way.

This manatee surfaced every 10-15 minutes, sometimes taking two breaths before going back down, which meant I could get up close and personal:

(though not too close, or when they exhale you get hit with manatee snot)

He rolled on his side a few times- I’m not entirely sure why but yes, he is pooping:

Manatees are rather gassy creatures- it’s actually one of the ways to spot them from a boat- just look for the bubbles!

Taking another breath:

He seemed to be waking up a bit more- maybe getting hungry?

Not a lot of sea grass here to eat, but he does have some algae stuck to his face:

Hello friend!

Manatees don’t really have an internal clock- they eat whenever they’re hungry and when they get full, they sleep- the time of day doesn’t really matter as their eyesight is poor and they have sensory hairs to help them find food and avoid danger:

I feel like this guy is generally more stationary than the first though, since he’s more algae-covered:

One last look:

We spent about half an hour with this manatee too, but the cold started to get to me and we were getting toward the end of the tour time, so we hopped back on the boat and headed back to shore. Along the way, I spotted a manatee and as we got closer, we saw that it was actually a mom and a baby! Unfortunately, both Hina and I had already stripped out of our wetsuits so no pictures 🙁

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I was planning on exploring the Crystal River area a bit more after my snorkel tour but, as is the theme of this trip, it started raining again so I decided to just drive back to Orlando and start packing up as I had an early flight home tomorrow morning.

Matt and family were at Animal Kingdom today, which closes earlier than the other parks, so we grabbed a late dinner together:

which included these tasty desserts:

and called it an early night.