Crystal River Clear Kayak Tour
If you go to Florida and don’t see some manatees, did you even go to Florida?! Just kidding 😉
But, yes, doing a clear kayak tour was one of our bucket list items while we were in Florida.
We chose the Manatee Season Tour, which runs through November 15th – March 31st. On this tour, we paddled to several different areas in Kings Bay with the hope of passively observing manatees and other kinds of wildlife.
Manatees typically congregate in the warmer water of the springs during the colder months of the year. Our tour was in February and the weather was perfect!
photo taken from Viator booking site
You are required to arrive 30 minutes prior to launching. For this tour, we launched out of Kings Bay Park. We did have to pay a $5 fee for parking. Upon arrival, you meet up with your guide and retrieve your paddles, kayaks, and life vest. They keep the groups pretty small so it’s a more intimate setting and you can hear all the info from the guide as well.
*We ended up having to re-book our tour because of high winds on the day we were originally scheduled. The staff does monitor the weather to the best of their ability but it Florida weather can change in an instant! Thankfully, the day we re-booked ended up being perfect. You don’t want to go on a super windy day.
The tour was about 2 hours. The clear kayaks are a bit different from regular kayaks and not AS comfortable so I recommend bringing a towel or something soft to sit on. My booty was a little sore after our ride lol
Unfortunately, we only caught a glimpse of a manatee underneath the water, as our guide informed us they aren’t as active in the afternoons (FYI when booking your time slot), but we still had a great time checking out the birds and we even saw a small alligator up on the bank.
The company we used was called Get Up and Go Kayaking, but we booked through Viator (see link below).
FYI – our guide informed us that the manatees are more active in the morning
Final thoughts
My husband and I love doing kayak tours and we really enjoyed spending some time out in the sun! Keep in mind, you will be in more open water until you get to the springs, so it can be a bit choppy and harder to move. We ended up in a tandem kayak but I believe you have the option to go solo if you’d like – I would as your guide beforehand.
Have you done a clear kayak tour before? Let me know how you liked it in the comments below!
Comments +