This past weekend my family had the unique opportunity to go out on a boat trip to swim with the manatees, originating from the Plantation on Crystal River, and it was a fantastic experience. Steve was our boat driver and Lance, a veteran diver, got into the water with us to see the manatees and was an enormous help with my 5-year-old son, encouraging him the entire time to stay in the water, despite the fact it was cold for him even with a wet suit on and made sure he enjoyed the entire experience. Lance also took some really good video and photos of the experience with his go pro that we opted to buy when our visit came to a conclusion. We were hoping to see a few more manatees, but due to the above average temperatures for January 18th, there weren't as many around as there can be in the middle of January. We spent a considerable of amount of time observing a mother and her baby manatee resting next to her on the bottom of the area where we were swimming, roughly 8 feet down, and that was very cool. Steve and Lance were both knowledgeable (they knew the best spots to go see the manatees), friendly, easy to talk to, and were a big reason the outing was as fun as it was. I would recommend this experience and hope to go back at some point, though the window to see them is limited to a very specific time of year. If you get a chance to request a crew, I'd highly recommend going with Steve and Lance. The other thing is that everyone else on the staff was also equally nice and helpful that morning.