Chassahowitzka River Clear Kayak Springs & Manatee Tours

Crosby was an excellent guide. We enjoyed a leisurely pace to appreciate nature and wildlife. We did hit two great spots for cooling off. We even saw a dolphin. We would highly recommend.

Crosby was fantastic, great local knowledge good sense of humor. Will for sure ask for him when we come back. Whole experience great!!!!

Val was a great tour guide and had everything ready to step in and go. She was very knowledgeable and helpful throughout the tour experience.

It was a pleasure spending the afternoon with Bobby. He was very personable and easygoing and wanted to show us the “off the beaten path” side of the Chaz and a little bit of old Florida. This is definitely more of a locals’ river than a touristy spring experience. The water isn’t quite the crystal-clear water you’ll find at places like Rainbow River or Crystal River, but it has its own laid-back, old Florida feel. The tour itself was very relaxed—more like having someone along to explore the river with us. Bobby was friendly, made us feel comfortable and safe, and we enjoyed our time with him. Overall, a fun and easygoing afternoon on the water!

My husband and I had a wonderful kayaking experience, beautiful, serene, and peaceful! Crosby, our guide, was fun and full of great stories and recommendations for experiencing the best of this area. We highly recommend him and this tour!

Nice river tour! Fun and entertaining guide, Crosby.

Crosby was a great kayak tour guide on the Chaz. He knew the best places to see that were not as crowded on a holiday weekend. We saw turtles and river otters! He shared interesting facts about the area. We will definitely ask for him again!

Guided tour with Kenny. We were the only guests. We had a great time. Kenny was fun & could answer our constant questions. Easy paddle with a stop at seven sisters to swim through the linked holes. Highly recommend

Kenny our guide was so full of information and funny stories as he ushered us in n this unfamiliar terrain and waterway. Great trip

Val and Kenny were great guides. Nice time on the river.

We had a great time Yas and Tom were fun and knowledgeable on all the surrounding, we had a big group of friends and we all enjoyed ourselves very much!! Thank you.

Awesome to have a guide who is knowledgeable, fun and environmentally minded on my first paddle on the Chaz. Cat was wonderful!!!

Cat was such a great guide! She took us to several cool locations, paddled at whatever pace the group needed, and made the day fun.

Had a great time with Kenny. Awesome day, would highly recommend. Saw a manatee and swam in the spring.

We had a great trip with Kenny (Kenneth). He was very knowledgeable of the area. I appreciated that he let my daughter borrow some goggles so she could swim through the caves. We loved Seven Sisters. Great relaxing trip through a beautiful area.

Our paddle on the Chaz with our guide, Crosby, ended up being one of the highlights of our entire trip. The water alone is unreal, but what made it special was how Crosby ran the tour. From the start, he made it clear this wasn’t some rigid, follow-the-line paddle — it was our experience. He was super laid back, easy to talk to, and clearly knows that river inside and out. At one point he trusted his instinct, took us a different direction, and got us right up close with a small group of manatees. No crowd— just us, taking it all in. It felt really personal. I was a little uneasy at first, and he didn’t make it a big deal—just had me hop in a tandem with him and calmly paddled me around until I was completely comfortable. We were able to stop and swim when we wanted, hang with the manatees as long as we felt comfortable, and then he brought us back to one of the prettiest spots to just float and relax for a bit. That flexibility made all the difference, especially traveling with our daughter. If you’re looking for a guide who actually listens, reads the moment, and lets the experience unfold naturally instead of forcing it, Crosby is your guy. You can tell he genuinely cares about people having a good time out there.

We had a great tour with Crosby and were so lucky to see a manatee even though the season has ended--we also saw some adorable otters.

A beautiful river. Our guide, bless his heart did his best. However, he was new and had not received much training. The guide strapped the life vests to one end of each kayak. There were 7 of us. 1 with no experience. Extra low tide. I inquired about the low tide when we booked. The route should have been changed. The guide had to drag the kayaks several times (both directions). We left kayaks and walked to our destination. There was very deep mud if you took the wrong step. 3 of us sank past our knees. The destination (the crack) had low water level. Very underwhelming. We would try this another time when tide is up. The guide was upbeat and pleasant. With lots of training, learning about the history, wildlife, etc. we would use him again.

My family enjoyed the kayaking tour today! It was an unusual cold morning and we were blessed to spot many wildlife and some manatees! Our tour guide was Crosby, he is very knowledgeable and kind. My son loved the experience so much and I know he will remember this trip for many more years to come. We would recommend this tour and Crosby as your guide!!

We had a fantastic experience on the Chaz River with our guide Cat! Cat was knowledgeable, friendly and clearly loves what she does and the Chaz river. If you’re planning a kayak trip on the Chaz I highly recommend going with Cat. Five stars all the way!!

Our guide Crosby def knew his job. 😀. Being as the water is warming up the manatees were few and far between. But he did find us a group of them which we really enjoyed just floating around them. They are truly magnificent. We saw lots of fish and some neat birds. Crosby also took us to the springs and the caves. This place was very quiet and peaceful. Not the Disney manatee tour of crystal springs.

Highly recommend Crosby did a great job and was very knowledgable

We would highly recommend this trip! Yas was our guide and he was amazing. My wife has a severe hearing impairment and Yas went out of his way to make sure that she could hear him and truly participate in the tour. As for the tour, the Chaz is just a beautiful river. Once you get out of the first little bit it is all natural with tons of birds and other wildlife. We floated with 8-10 manatee for quite a long time, just relaxing and watching them. Yas also took us a little further into the river and showed us several other spots. He realized we were into birds and made sure to point them out to us. On the way back in we stopped at 7 sisters springs and spent quite a bit of some time exploring and snorkeling. Just an absolutely gorgeous place and it was so much fun to play in and around the springs. This was just a nice relaxing float with gorgeous things to see and fun things to do. Never felt rushed or hurried at all. One tip. We went pretty early in the day and it was pretty quiet. By time we were returning (early afternoon) there were lots more people and kayaks coming out.

Ryan C was an excellent tour guide! He was very knowledgeable, kind and patient. We saw manatees, birds, fish and an alligator, old Florida at its finest! I highly recommend both Ryan C and Get up & Go kayaking.

We had a wonderful time with Get Up and Go Kayaking. From being to end they were a first class experience. Our guide, Cat, was awesome and her professionalism coupled with her knowledge of the river and the birds and animals that we saw made the trip memorable one. She took us to places where the Manatees were hanging out and we saw so many that we lost count. One of the bonuses of our experience was the Otter that stopped by and entertained us for at least 20 minutes. We had a very special afternoon.

Kat was our leader, and she led us well. We paddled quietly along the river, visited springs and upwellings, and saw many varieties of wildlife up close as she guided us for three fun hours.

It was an absolutely fantastic experience. Cameron was amazing, personable and incredibly knowledgable. My girlfriend, Amy, and I can’t recommend the tour enough!

We had a great experience kayaking the Chassahowitzka River on the tour guided by Cameron. He was very informative of the area, birds, fish, manatees and swimming holes. Thank you Cameron for an unforgettable experience.

Wonderful magical time!!! We went on the coldest morning in Florida in years. Steam coming off the water. Saw more manatees than we ever dreamed. Tour was awesome! Austin was great

Cameron was a great guide! He shared lots of information about the wildlife and anything else we asked about! He was patient and let us explore wherever we wanted. We were able to see more than 40+ manatee! We would love to come again!

My friends and I had a ball. Crosby was a fantastic guide. He offered much information on the area covering hot springs, caves and manatees. The scenery was breathtaking and we were fortunate to be able to sit and watch many manatees. He also took many photos which were wonderful. Highly recommend! This will have to be an Annual trip for us!

It was a cool day but we had a great time. Our guide was fantastic and we saw manatees up close as well as great bird life. Crosby was our guide and he was attentive to everyone in the group!

Awesome experience! Crosby was quite knowledgeable about manatees and knew exactly where they would be. He was accommodating to whatever we wanted to do. Plenty of time for pictures.

This is a beautiful river. It was a nice change of pace from Three Sisters and we didn't think we would see manatees but we did see one. We saw a bunch of other birds and the river in general is really pretty. We got caught in the rain but our guide, Demitri was flexible, knowledgeable and super fun. Thanks for a great time.

We had a wonderful experience overall. The fee was slightly higher due to manatee season; however, the tour was calm, memorable, and well worth it. The clear kayak made the experience incredibly immersive—you truly feel like part of nature, especially while paddling through the springs where the water is remarkably clear. We greatly appreciated our tour guide, Cat. She was very knowledgeable about the area and thoughtfully planned an excellent route. She warned us about the tides, guided us through the springs, and taught us how to listen for and observe wildlife respectfully. We joined the 9:00 a.m. tour, which turned out to be the best time to spot manatees due to reduced sun glare on the water. We would recommend bringing a pair of polarized sunglasses to easier viewing. Although there were not large crowds—likely because the weather had been unusually warm the day before—we were fortunate to see several manatees resting, including a mother and her calf. In addition, we saw an incredible variety of bird species, many of which I had never seen in person before. It felt like a childhood dream come true, as if the animals had stepped right out of an encyclopedia. There was an option to swim in the springs, but we chose not to this time since we were driving long distances later that day. That said, I would absolutely love to return. Nature has so much to offer, and experiences like this remind us of the importance of respecting and protecting the environment.

Fabulous! Very knowledgeable guide and tour was amazing. Saw manatees, otter, alligator, birds, fish, crabs, beautiful waters (including springs) and foliage. A must-do if you are in the area!

Loved this tour!! felt like I saw Florida naturally!! Dmitry was great and so knowledgeable about the wildlife in area (birds, fish, and yes manatees, Likes it better the Crystal River because less hectic with boats and other kayakers. can’t say enough ! It was great and so was Dmitry and Lacey!

Great experience! Great amount of time to explore both the seven sisters spring and the crack spring. Beautiful environment. Cat was our guide and she was amazing! We were about to swim in the springs and also see manatees in the main river.

Yassiel was perfectly honest with us from the beginning and said he wasn’t sure that we would see manatees as we were just out of season. But, we saw it all! We saw 3 manatees and all the birds. The only thing we didn’t see was a gator. Saw otters, storks, osprey and ALL of the usual birds. He went at our pace and was thoughtful in keeping us around the manatees and taking tons of pics for us. Amazing job!!

We went kayaking for the first time in the clear kayaks with Crosby, it was beautiful & wonderful. From the fresh springs (that we could get out & swim in or dive through, to the various spring life (mom manatee & babies), to eagles & other varieties of birds, to tons of fish & with many varieties, to turtles and the list goes on. Crosby was a great guide, with lots of knowledge of the wild life & area. I highly recommend him & this tour

We are SO GLAD we chose this particular tour on The Chaz! Dmitry was a wonderful guide. He is super knowledgeable & enthusiastic about local wildlife. Dmitry was friendly and relaxed while also being on top of safety; attentive to each person in our party. [Thanks for being so patient & kind with 70y/o mom ;)] We were incredibly fortunate to see an alligator, a water snake, really cool birds like Wood Stork and many kinds of herons/egrets. We received a precious end-of-tour surprise when Dmitry’s sharp eyes spotted a small solo manatee (out of season)! This tour exceeded our expectations. We went on a Wednesday afternoon in early October; got back into some really beautiful quiet channels with hardly any other humans around. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Crosby was our guide and he did a Super job for us. We were the only two people so we had his undivided attention. He was very knowledgeable about the river. He showed us two Manatees, an Otter, a baby alligator. He showed us the 7 Sisters springs and The Crack. I had never been to either one so this was an awesome experience. Thanks Crosby for helping us make lifelong memories. We have been truly blessed to have Crosby as our guide.

Hi Austin! Thank you for reaching out, and thank you for creating Get Up And Go Kayaking that allows folks like us to have the opportunity to enjoy a perfect day out on the water Kayaking! We were able to explore your website with ease, finding everything needed to schedule our reservations. With that, we’d like to again thank Dmitry our fantastic tour guide for such amazing day on the water! As Dmitry greeted and introduced himself, he laid out the plan for the day on the water. During that exchange he was getting a feeling for what each of us were looking for out on the water today. Dmitry was very easy to talk with, and we truly enjoyed him sharing stories of his life on the water, which he was able to incorporate durning our kayaking experience! We appreciate his overall guidance and safety getting us in and out the kayaking. His overall knowledge while on the water, his amazing in site regarding the wildlife, layout of the waterways, from the birds, the manatees to everything in between really created an amazing experience. Thank you both for an amazing day on the Chaz today. It truly a wonderful day for all of us!

Excellent guide, very relaxed and aware of the group's limitations. Knowledgeable about the area and its many plants and animals. Easy to follow and overall enjoyable

Our kayaking guide, CROSBY was absolutely amazing. Knowledgeable, Friendly & Hospitable. The river was refreshing and the views were amazing!!

This was a surprise for my birthday and it was a fantastic gift! Crosby was a great guide and knew a lot about the river and manatees. It was a relaxing adventure and we would recommend this to anyone looking for a kayak tour and got tons of great pictures.

The areas we were kayaking in were beautiful. How ever I would NEVER have advertised this as a guided tour, our so called “guide” showed up late never even introduced himself & had two young men there that were to shadow him as they just got hired on, even the two of them were surprised by the guides lack of efforts in leading us or even talking about the things we were doing! At one point they asked if we paid for this trip. Our guide was more times than not trailing behind, showed no enthusiasm, offered no help getting the 64yo woman in or out of the kayak, let 2 in the group go the wrong with the trainees who knew nothing calling them back. Once we arrived back to the docks, our “guide” was again so far behind that we had to get ourselves out and pull all the kayaks in, Which brings up the condition of the equipment….we were filthy once we got out all covered in black on our legs and arms. I absolutely would not recommend this tour especially for the price that was paid.

Our guide was so friendly and accommodating in every way. We had some very typical Florida weather and it rained right as our tour was set to begin. Our guide gave us all of the options and ultimately we decided to continue our trip as neither of us minded the rain at all. Our guide showed us some neat spots along the river, including two sets of springs. Despite the rain, it was a great day out on the water!

Great kayak trip! Yas was very patient with us during the cave swimming part. He was informative and helpful throughout the tour.