OG' Manatee Snorkel Tour: Private Group Adventure
5.0
424 Ratings
Crystal River

This exclusive snorkeling tour with manatees is only for 3 hours, but the experience it offers will stay with your team forever! Your personal USCG certified captain will set sail with your private team to discover the sanctuary and bring you face to face with these ‘quiet mammoths’!

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • River Ventures - After checking in at the tour center you will watch a brief video about the manatees, go over the rules of swimming and how to interact in a manner that is fun for both you and the manatees. You are then fitted for a wetsuit to prepare you for your snorkeling adventure. Your guides will photograph the highlights of your entire manatee swim tour from start to finish, both above and below the water. Upon returning to the tour center, a high-resolution picture CD containing images from your manatee tour will be available for you to purchase if desired.
What's Included
  • Expert guidance led by a professional
  • Exclusive private tour experience
  • Complimentary bottled water
  • All necessary equipment provided
  • Multilingual introductory video available (English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish)
What's Not Included
  • Gratuities
  • Souvenir photos (available to purchase)
  • DVD (available to purchase)
Additional Information
  • Price reflects 1 to 10 people
  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Post COVID-19 Policy- We are mindful to thoroughly clean water vehicles between visitors.
Location
River Ventures
Southeast Kings Bay Drive
River Ventures Manatee Tour and Education Center, please arrive 15 minutes early.
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(424 Ratings)
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Elizabethlq9193qa
May 18, 2024
Best Manatee Experience Ever! - If I could give this team 10 stars I would!! They were all fantastic! This was a wonderful experience for our entire family!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sabrinag949
Apr 23, 2024
Amazing Manatee tpur - We had a tour with Csptain Chris and Crosby. It was amazing. There was a little baby manager around the boat and it stayd there all the time. Mama was swimming near by. The kids could stay in the water all the time. On board drinks and snacks. Thank you Chris and Crosby for the wonderfull time
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Carolinemcgahdesign
Apr 19, 2024
Wonderful Experience!! - My family & I had an absolute blast swimming with the manatees with our awesome crew—guide Mike & Captian Emerson! Our experience far exceeded our expectations on all fronts! Swimming with the manatees was a surreal experience we will all remember the rest of our life! Mike & Emerson were kind & patient with our three kids & allowed all of us all to be at ease & have so much fun. They were very knowledgeable about the manatees, birds & environment & highly respected the rules in place to keep the wildlife & us safe. They also had wonderful recommendations for other fun things to do in the area, all of which were a hit!! Thanks guys—so great to get to do a bucket list adventure with you!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Stephaniewd9680eh
Apr 19, 2024
Guide James and Captain Emerson are the way to go! We had a great tour! 10/10 - We had Guide James-this was hands down the highlight of our vacation to Florida this year. My husband and myself and brother and sister in law all went and we had a manatee almost the whole time! James was so full of knowledge and information and just seemed like an amazing soul who truly had passion for his job. I cannot for the life of me remember the Captains name, but am pretty sure they always work as a pair and that the name is Captian Emerson, but they were so authentic and made our tour so fun. A lot of times when you do activities like this the guide is awkward or stuffy and to be honest we would have taken both out for drinks after!!! It just felt like a day spent on the bay with friends ya know? I was scared of the snorkels and he taught me how and I didn’t bring my face up much after! Can’t wait to go back!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
A2259lidebw
Apr 15, 2024
Great Swimming with Manatees Experience - We swam with at least 20 manatees..we saw a baby calf nursing on it's mother, we saw about 6 dolphins up close and personal. JJ and Natalie were very knowledgeable about the manatees. We learned alot and had a truly memorable experience.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sebastian
Apr 9, 2024
Dream fulfilled :-) - Marissa from River Ventures was our manatee guide on this very educational and pleasant private tour, and Chris was our captain. Marissa and Chris are two very endearing and warm people with whom one enjoys spending time! Both of them treat the manatees and their habitat with utmost respect and caution, a practice they pass on directly to their customers, just as it should be. They have fulfilled a personal dream of mine that I have cherished since I was 14 years old, ever since I saw pictures of the manatees in Crystal River in a nature book :-). Heartfelt thanks for that, Marissa & Chris! My family and I can wholeheartedly recommend River Ventures!! The booking process from abroad is very professionally managed … keep it up!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ctwranch
Mar 19, 2024
Book asap - Crosby & Kelly were great. We took our 2 kids, age 4 & 6 & they were so accommodating for them! Definitely recommend & will be back!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Z1428ukjoshuar
Mar 12, 2024
Sea daddy - Coming in to this trip I was a little skeptical. I didn’t have a dad; I’ve always wanted one. Talking to my tour guide really made me realize that he’s me dad now. He told me that “I will now be your sea daddy” Now I took that too heart I loved the experience and now I found my meaning in life to become a sea daddy.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Kristen_from_stl
Mar 1, 2024
Fantastic Manatee Tour - We had a great time on this tour. Captain Bryan and Guide Mike really made a wonderful experience for us. Feel like this company cares about manatees and looks out for their well being by teaching safety and guidance in the water. We saw 20+ manatees, even though late in the season. Going earlier is better, colder weather makes the manatees come into the spring waters. Also, Mike did a great job capturing photos and videos (the one attached to review is from the company). The picture/video package is pretty reasonable and you can review all pictures online before buying them. This place is really great, totally recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Berdell_w
Mar 17, 2024
Manatee trip - The captain and mate (Micheal and Dani) were great we loved them, I would have rated this 5 stars if maybe we were warned ahead of time that we were going to be in very murky water and not really see much of the manatees. It was a fun day but we only really saw one maybe two and there were a lot of other tours in the same area and we only could spend a limited time with the one we saw. I have done the tour before and it was in the winter in the springs. That is the way to go, don't go anytime past February or you likely won't see many manatee and because the weather is warmer there are lots more people on the water and the manatee leave the springs to go out to the gulf and other areas. So they are hard to find and it is kind of a bummer. Dani was the best part of the trip, she was informative and really helped us at least get around the one maybe two manatee we did see.
Review provided by Viator
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up to 10 guests
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May 2024
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