Kayaking Crystal River

This was one birthday to remember! Kayaking Crystal River with the Get Up and Go Kayaking Manatee Tour. This is a great way to view manatees in their natural habitat and to celebrate a birthday.

Crystal River is located in Citrus County, Florida. The city is known as the “Home of the Manatee”. This is a well known manatee viewing area.

We began our tour at Kings Bay where several natural springs drain into the water system. This keeps the water’s temperature a constant 72 degrees. Perfect for manatees looking for a warm place in the winter months.

We had a perfect day kayaking Crystal River even though it was warm outside, we did manage to spy a few manatees hanging out in the waters.

Clear Kayaks

A unique concept of the Get Up and Go Kayaking tour company is that all of their kayaks are clear. This makes viewing the manatees an incredible experience as you can view them from every angle. Then if you are lucky enough they will glide under your kayak. One did on our tour, such an amazing experience.

Kayaking

I won’t lie, my husband did most of the paddling. I didn’t seem to have the coordination or timing to keep in sync with his pace. It was nice to sit back and relax as we guided through the water looking for manatees.

The tour was about 2 hours long. Definitely a workout for those paddling. We toured several of the springs in the area. You could always tell where the springs appeared because the water would turn clear and a pretty shade of blue.

Manatees

We were able to see several manatees up close near Three Sisters Springs. The photo below is one my husband took underwater with his GoPro.

Most of the manatees we saw were gray shadows in the water gliding gracefully close to us.

Occasionally coming up for a quick breath of air before descending back into the water.

Plan Your Trip

The Manatee Tour with the Get Up and Go Kayaking company was an amazing experience. This is the second tour we have taken with them. Our first was the bioluminescence tour at Merritt Island, Florida. This was another fantastic tour by the company.

I want to thank Get Up and Go Kayaking for the awesome tour and our fantastic tour guides. They were amazing! I especially want to thank Tyler, featured in our video below. This is our first attempt at doing an interview for my blog. He did a great job while my husband interviewed him and replied with informative answers to each question. Check it out!