One of the key items on our “TO DO” list for this winter was to see the manatees in Florida. Earlier this week, Kay found that the Crystal River area had great manatee tours, and was only 1+ hour west of The Villages. A quick check on Trip Advisor revealed a number of tours, including snorkeling, kayaking, or just viewing from a boat. We opted for the last one, and reservations were made for 2 o’clock PM Friday, January 25. 

Crystal River, named for the river which flows through the area, sits on Kings Bay near the Gulf of Mexico (Or is that Gulf of America? What a buffoon). Kings Bay, in turn  is fed by over seventy springs and as many as forty more seeps that feed 600 million gallons of freshwater a day into this incredible body of freshwater sitting only six miles from the Gulf of Mexico. It is a leading winter refuge for the Florida Manatee. Consequently, there were many places to see and things to do in the Crystal River area, but a late start hampered our ability to partake. We ended up touring the Crystal River State Archeological Park, one of the longest continually occupied sites in Florida. It is a National Historic Landmark comprised of 61-acres; it is a six mound, pre-contact, Native American site with burial mounds, temple platform mounds, a plaza area and a substantial midden. For more than 1,900 years, this site on Crystal River in Citrus County, Florida, with access to the Gulf of Mexico, served as a ceremonial center. The real reason we visited this site was to photograph birds, which proved to be somewhat unsuccessful except for an Osprey and Red-headed Woodpecker.

After the archeological park, we ventured to Pete’s Pier to await the Crystal River Manatee Viewing Cruise. Florida manatees are large, aquatic mammals that are native to Florida. Adult manatees are typically 9-10 feet long from snout to tail and weigh around 1,000 pounds; however, they may grow to over 13 feet long and weigh more than 3,500 pounds. They can only tolerate a very narrow temperature range; Manatees need access to water warmer than 68 degrees to survive prolonged cold weather. At 2 o’clock PM sharp, Captain Chris motored through the pier area to one of the springs areas where we joined many other tourists anxious to see our first manatee.

Regretfully, attempts to video the large animals with a GoPro underwater failed. Most of the following photos were taken by Kay.

After the neat manatee viewing cruise, we ate seafood at one of the local restaurants and returned to The Villages.