Swim With Manatees In Crystal River, Florida

It was hard to see any thing. The water where the manatees were is very murky

We just had a beautiful tour with Cypris :)

My husband and I rented kayaks for 2h + a swim experience with manatees. Thank you Emily and Ayanna for your professionalism and warmth, you are the best! We had a fantastic time, we got given the best tips, and even though we did a walk-in, we got time to do everything we wanted to do. We can only highly recommend them, don't miss out on this experience!!

John was amazing! He made sure we saw all the manatees possible! Such a great mother/daughter trip!

So much fun, such a great experience. Weather made it a little challenging to see the manatees, but Jon was so great at taking us to different spots to make sure we got a great view. The ladies at the front desk were so welcoming and friendly as well! I also had a great booking experience, had a little difficulty with the online booking (my own fault) and the customer service rep was VERY quick to respond to my emails, and sort everything out. Thank you so much! We will be back with the kids next time!

Great experience swimming with the manatees! Friendly and knowledgeable guide too! Jon was awesome!

Amazing experience! The swimming part was worth it and our tour guide John was very informative and fun.

Such a great fun experience! John was a fantastic tour guide! Would come back and highly recommend!

This was an amazing experience. Our guy John was fabulous. I would recommend this as a bucket list item of your life. There are other tours where you can be on a boat with a group of people and get in a wetsuit and go into the water but the guide stays on the boat. Having a guide with us in the kayaks and in the water was a personal touch.

We had the most amazing time! This was an incredible experience!!!! Our guide John was fantastic. Going on a cold day is a must. The manatee we encountered played with us for about an hour.

We had such an incredible experience! Although it was wicked cold and we thought we booked a heated tour - this tour absolutely knocked it out of the park! We definitely appreciated the slow kayak trip around and great direction from out tour guide. This excursion was for my mom and I had zero expectations or base knowledge of what we were doing, but boy let me tell you it was one of the best experiences I've ever had on a vacation. Thank you to all the staff and especially our guide!!

Amazing! Yes it was worth the cold air/water! There were 100's of Manatees and we were up close and personal. Cypris was so knowledgeable and she clearly enjoys her job which makes it fun for all!

We had an exceptional time and had an amazing guide. John was very knowledgeable and gave us the best experience we could have!

Didn't see much but he tried! It was pretty windy and the waters pretty murky.

Once in a lifetime adventure. Our guide John was an absolute marvel. He was extremely knowledgeable and very conscious of the surroundings. I would highly recommend this experience if in the area. Manatees were abundant and very personable, if thatsca real thing? The counter personnel were as friendly as could be. 5 stars all the way. Highly recommended.

Natalie and Rob did a great job guiding us to see manatees up close. They were both very personable and kept the experience fun and relaxed the whole time, all while keeping us safe in the water. Overall, it was a really enjoyable part of our vacation. Thanks guys!

John was our guide and he was so informative and an excellent guide. A highlight of our trip to Florida. We would highly recommend this tour. And yes we swam withe manitees was amazing. I am 69 and husband 72 and we managed well for all ages!!

What a great experience! From check in to when we walked out the door it was amazing. Jon was a great guide and super friendly.

Jonathan was a wonderful guide for our kayaking out to swim with manatees. He’s kind, patient and very knowledgeable about how to best encourage others in their experience. We appreciated everything about our adventure at Crystal River! We want to go again!!

A great day. Started off getting into clean, dry wetsuits and heading to the water. Dani, our guide, was kind and very personable, a real pleasure to spend the day with. She led us to quite a few manatees that we would swim around with and even spotted some dolphin on the way back in. This is my second trip with Paddles Outdoor, the first doing the swimming with the manatees, and I'll definitely be back more often.

This was an excellent tour in beautiful surroundings with some awesome creatures!! We booked onto the swimming tour which had a mix of kayaking and swimming which was just what we wanted. Huge thank you to our guide for giving us all the tips and tricks we needed!!

Amazing experience swimming with a manatee! Our tour guide and boat captain made the experience even better! Can’t wait to try this again when the weather is colder to see even more manatees.

This was such an incredible experience! Since I was a little girl, I have always wanted to get up close to a manatee in their natural habitat. This tour did not disappoint. Our tour guide Jon was very knowledgable and made the trip fun. He took a lot of great photos of us out on the water. My only complaint...the tour wasn't nearly long enough! (which isn't even a bad thing, it just goes to show how much fun we had). 2.5 hours seems like a long time but I could have spent all day out on the water, kayaking and swimming through all the springs and channels. We had a great trip and can't wait to do it again :) Definitely a must see!

What you see on YouTube is not what you see in person. The water is so murky that your mask and snorkel is basically worthless. We saw a few manatees but not underwater. Three Sisters Spring is where most of the manatees congregate and where the water is clear. Unfortunately it is closed to the public to protect the manatees. I have no complaints with the tour company. They were friendly, organized, and knowledgeable.

John was an amazing tour guide for our swim with the manatees today! He showed us around to all the best spots to scope out the manatees where we saw a bunch of calves with their mommas and got the most amazing pictures! Thanks for creating a core memory Paddles! We will definitely be back again soon!

Had the pleasure of being guided by Elizabeth and John today. Very knowledgeable about the area and of course the manatees. Saw numerous Manatees today from our Kayak and during our swim. John and Elizabeth made sure that all participants saw the Manatees up close while we were in the water. One of the best tours I have experienced. Many thanks!

My sister and I came from out of state to visit and we booked a kayak trip to swim with the manatees, it was an unforgettable experience we will treasure forever. Our guide Jess was so knowledgeable, experienced, friendly and a great photographer. I would highly recommend this company! All the staff was friendly, answered all our questions and made sure we were safe as well as keeping the manatees safe. Thank you for all you do keep up the great work!

Regardless of chilly and busy waters, I would do this experience over and over again. Our guide, Jon, shared his extensive knowledge with us about the uniquely beautiful (in my opinion) creatures in such a way that we walked away with a better understanding of and appreciation for manatees. I highly recommend kayaking too, being splashed by and drifting over a manatee is certainly a memory I won’t quickly forget! Certainly an experience for all ages.

The tour was fun! John our guide was professional and personable. Very helpful and made sure we were safe as well as keeping the manatees safe. Crowded in the snorkeling area so go early in the morning. Kayaking was great and fun way to see the manatees.

Tour was great, Jessica was an great guide and was mindful of the Manatees. She even reached out to those that were not following the guidelines to protect the sanctuary. Got to see a lot of Manatees and baby Manatees as well.

John was an amazing generous guide! He even got towels for my kids. Very efficient outfitters. The manatees are amazing. The water was warm but the air was chilly.

What an outstanding experience my wife and I had. Jess was an awesome guide who gave us some knowledge of the wildlife we were seeing and of the manatees we would be seeing as we kayaked to Three Sisters. Seeing those beautiful, huge, and curious creatures up close while swimming among them was breathtaking. This is an experience we won't soon forget. Thank you so much.

Nice but not excellent organization. The guide was very nice and helpful, but overall I feel the tour is more expensive than should be in comparison with other companies, which I found only after. Good promotion on the Internet though.

We had a wonderful time kayaking and swimming in the springs/with manatees! There aren't many manatees up in the springs yet, but we were able to see a mother/calf and swim with them. Jon was an amazing guide, and very knowledgeable about the area (he is from the area, which was a plus)! We will be back with our other kids this winter!

Had an amazing time! We saw so many different animals, and even baby manatees. Tour guide, Kyle, was knowledgeable and friendly.

River Ventures was absolutely amazing! We had a great time and experience with Captain Troy and Shanna. So much fun and they have so much knowledge of the area and wildlife there. River Ventures- swim with Manatees

We had a beautiful afternoon on the water. Brody was our tour guide! Not only did we enjoy our kayaking adventure, but we went to several of the nature springs and saw the natural spring bubbling from the ground. Truly spectacular. The manatees, as always, are so magical and gentle. Brody was wonderful and clearly enjoys his role as a guide.

This experience was everything I hoped it would be. There are many tour groups in the area to choose from that take you out onto the bay in a motorboat (which makes the bay very congested), but we wanted a more personal experience and chose to kayak with Paddles Outdoor Rentals. This was the best decision and I can't recommend this enough. We happened to be the only party with our guide, but even if we weren't this would still have been the best option. You kayak around the bay and when you spot some manatees you can jump in and snorkel with them. We saw 3 separate manatees up close, including one in a secluded area that was just us - it felt like a secret only we knew about! The pictures the guide takes are very good and made it less stressful for us to try and capture the moments on our own.

Getting up close to these amazing creatures. So nice! Having a great guide to answer any questions and of course, good great jokes!!!

I had an amazing time here at the Paddle Over Rentals with Brody as my guide, We had an almost semi-private tour (2 other people + guide) so it ended up a great, personalized experience. Getting here from Orlando was super easy (1.5 hrs) . Check-in was a breeze - just sign a waiver and watch 2 safety videos. Then, we suited up in wetsuits. No fins allowed, but you can wear booties or water shoes if you want. I did not and was totally fine. The wet suit was a 3mm? ( I think) and warm enough for 3 hours in the water. I was able to use my own mask and snorkel, but they provide them for you also if you need. The kayak was super stable and great for a single person or a double. The guide was on a paddle board. We docked the paddles and waded into the manatee area with noodles so as not to drag our feet and kick up too much silt. The silt makes visibility difficult so that's why they don't want you to wear fins and touch the bottom. The manatees are EVERYWHERE!!! They swim under your kayak. Next to you. through your legs. Around you. It's great. I was so amazed at how calm and gentle they are. They approach you and just swim around you. I even saw one eating and scooping food into his mouth. There's an abundance of other sealife in the area too - sheepshead, needlefish, blue crab, cranes (all kinds), hawks, pelicans, you name it! This was such a great experience and Brody is very knowledgeable about the area, animals, and springs themselves. I highly recommend this tour over the others. I did another one the day before and only saw 1 manatee. ++ The POR shop is super cute. I bought a dryfit t-shirt and some polarized glasses so I can spot the animals in the water next time. If you check-in on yelp you get a special coupon for future rentals! Thanks Brody and Team!

Micah was great and really attentive to what the group wanted to do. We saw SO MANY manatees. He took great pictures and made this really fun. Even had some local lunch recommendations for us at the end.

Mika our guide was very knowledgeable and couldn’t have ask for a better guide. The entire operation was spot on and friendly

I just wasted hours on this thing. The staff are very unhelpful and stubborn. I should have canceled it. Don’t go!

Actually the tour was less than 2 hours. And just one time to see a manatee. I could not enjoy it enough.

Cool !! Swimming with the manatees has been a great experience to live. Those animals look so calm..

We were freezing! The air temperature was 30 degrees and the trip was not cancelled nor would the company allow a refund or ‘rain check’ so our group went anyway. We didn’t want to lose our 300 dollars. Several people had borderline hypothermia by the time we returned to shore. I did not see any other kayaking groups so I assume most kayak tour groups cancelled due to the frigid air temps.

I rented a kayak and gear to snorkel on my own with the manatees. It was the best and they treated me like family and helped me so much. I will defiantly be going back a little. The prices are even unbeatable and the fun can’t be found anywhere else.

It was so amazing!!! To snorkel with this huge and calm creatures. We had an amazing time , it’s better to do the trip by kayak than on a bigger boat. Our guide was nice and it was important to her and the whole trip organizer that you don’t disturb or harm the animals which is very important. We had a nice dive into a spring as well which was nice but the most amazing thing was of course coming so close to the manatees

Our tour guide was wonderful, and the staff in the shop was great! Our experience was not. We floated around in our kyacks in the bay with boats, swimmers, and other kyakcs chasing 1 Manettee to try and catch a glimpse. Then we kyacked through a boat canal with a small beach on one side and houses on the other side. We saw a few ducks and birds and the guide was great at explaining the different spices. One of the springs we went in had a few small areas you could see the bubbling sand but the area was so small you could not fit our group, so my husband and a one of of kids was not able to see the bubbling sand because to many kyacks in a very small area. We did anchor our kyacks and swim/snorkel into a different spring and was it nice, there was a few fish and it was pretty under the water. We did not swim with Manettee, the description of the trip did not match our expectations at all. I would recommend calling before booking to see if the Manettee are truly present at the time of booking. The best part of this trip was my proud Mom moment when my kids jumped in to help an elderly women get back into her kayak. My husband and I apologize to our kids as we left because this was a waste of one of our vacation days in Florida, we truly thought we were going to experience some of Florida's nature and swim with Manatees. Paid extra for the picture package and thought they would catch some pictures of my family so I could leave my phone in the car. The guide said just ask if you would like me to take a picture. I did not want to have to ask, maybe if it was just my family on this tour. I wish I would have just brought my phone.