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#1043
Summertime in Crystal River
Elvis48 - 6/01/2014 10:48 AM
Category: Travel
Replies: 3

Hi Everybody,

I was just trying to get a general idea of what to expect at Crystal River during the summer. I know that winter time is the big time for manatees, but are there still plenty of manatees to see in the summer? My fiancée’s birthday is in early July and I was thinking of taking advantage of the 3-day (4th of July) weekend to drive up there from Fort Lauderdale for some manatee diving, as a surprise/treat to her.

For those who’ve been there in both the winter and summer time, would you say its worth the wait for the winter, or did you still enjoy yourself in the summer? Both her and I have been itching to go up there for quite sometime now to try it out and I’d like to do it as soon as possible, but there’s also the possibility of going up around Christmas time with a 4-day weekend.

Any input/opinions would be appreciated. Thanks.
#8590
Subscribed
dalehall - 6/02/2014 5:59 AM
If you are going strictly for the manatees, you will be very disappointed by going in July. Peak manatee season runs from November to early March. There are a few year round manatees, but they are very few and far between and finding them would be almost impossible. I put together a manatee trip every year for my scuba group and we go the 1st or 2nd weekend in December. We have actually had a couple years that we had issues finding manatees even during that time of year, and that’s with a local Charter (Bird’s Underwater) that knows where to find them. That being said, Crystal River is a very quaint little town and there is some decent diving in the area. Rainbow River drift dive at KP Hole is always fun. You can dive the cavern in King’s Bay and there are a few springs; Blue Grotto, Devil’s Den, Hudson Grotto, etc that are pretty local to the area.
Hope this helps a little bit..
Dale
#21070
LatitudeAdjustment - 6/02/2014 6:52 AM
My son lives nearby so once in April we went out looking for Manatees and only found two and they were up in the shallows with no viz :(
#1043
Subscribed
Elvis48 - 6/02/2014 8:38 AM
Alright, thanks for the info. She strictly wants to see the manatees, so looks like Xmas time will be the better choice. Thanks again for your help.