My family and I had a great time going out to see the manatees with Trish and Wade. The experience was really well managed from start to finish, from the pre-trip informational video session + wetsuit fitting to the photos, which were a bit grainy but memorable overall.
There were only two small wrinkles. The first was that we were rescheduled from 11 to 1, then told upon arriving that our chances of seeing manatees would've been higher in the morning; this was a bit annoying since we had expressly booked a morning visit for that reason. Because of that, however, we saw only 2-3 manatees, instead of the 10-20 we were expecting to see. (This was also a bit of a letdown since we drove over 2 hours to Crystal River just to see them.)
Another potential wrinkle, particularly for folks sensitive to COVID restrictions, is that the boat is quite crowded. Neither the captain nor the guard wore masks. It's also hard to wear masks once you're wet from snorkeling. We were also not temperature measured or checked for symptoms, so hopefully everyone onboard was COVID-free. Our family did end up purchasing and bringing our own snorkel gear, which we felt might be more hygienic.
Odpowiedź od gospodarza
Dec 2020
We limit our GROUP BOATS to 10 participants, even though we could take more., We have MANY semiprivate and Private options.....limiting the groups to 6 and we are CLEAR ON OUR WEBSITE about capacity. We've even lowered some of the private tour prices to encourage more intimate groups!
With that said, we CAN NOT control the number of people on the water and you choose the busiest week of the year. 11am is NOT considered a morning tour...it's as poor a tour time as 1 pm, or worse....6,630, 715...these are the higher quality tours.
We are so sorry you only saw 2 or 3.....and you can never EXPECT a certain number in the wild. We hate that your disappointed; but we are trying our very best to accomodate everyone right now.....and have made MANY adjustments due to covid.
For those traveling, and strill worried about covid...when you come to crystal river the waterway will be crowded. Most locals including small businesses do not require or wear masks (we do require masks of our shop staff and van drivers). Most tours companies have made little or no changes, and if you are nervous about exposure, maybe it's not yet time to go on a snorkeling trip with other people.