Dive with the Manatees - Crystal River
This isn’t a dive, it is more of a snorkel trip, but did we dive it anyway? Heck yes!
It was definitely dark at 5AM when I left, I can’t get away from this crack *** of dawn stuff. I was about 20 minutes from the shop where we were meeting when my cell rang. It was Scott making sure I was on my way. Last night we were a group of about 8 but by the time I got to the shop we were down to 4 divers for varying reasons. Myself, Scott a business man from Boston, Brian a twenty-something from central Florida, and Harley a retired marine.
We rented a pontoon boat just for us and we were off. Not really, after loading all the gear on the boat I couldn’t find my BC. Total panic and then....crap ! On the floor.... in the garage, I left it on the floor in the garage....God I hope Dennis doesn’t run it over with the truck. Dopey, dopey, dopey. Oh, well, I went in and rented a BC, this was not a real hold up though since we actually spent the first hour on the boat, at the dock , just hanging and chatting because the thing would not start. Turns out it needed a new battery and the fuel hose was loose. As diverse a group as we were, we were all kinda alike. Scary isn’t it.
We may have raced the other boats at idle speed (nothing over 3 miles an hour), grounded the thing.... just once, it was an accident, had a staring contest with a plastic owl, and had our dive flag stolen...but there was still more to the day.
Our first stop was 3 Sisters Springs. On the way out there I was totally confused when I saw a fin come up out of the water in the river. Shark! There is a shark in the river....no a dolphin.... no 2 dolphins! Cool! Two dolphins just playing and jumping around, I never expected that.
There is a manatee sanctuary set up and roped off just outside of the springs and no one is allowed to enter it. While we could see several large manatees just lazing about inside the area, there were several more outside and swimming among all the divers and snorklers.
After gazing for a while we headed up to the springs. It is a natural inlet called 3 Sisters Springs because it is a combination of three spring areas that contain many sand boils and vents that produce 12 million gallons of water daily. The land surrounding the springs is privately owned property and the only access to the springs is blocked by concrete posts to stop the boats from entering. As we swam into the spring a large adult manatee came swimming down to us and just sat for a few minutes being petted before moving on. They are BIG but very gentle. We swam around finding all 3 springs but because of the shallow depth (less than 10 feet in most places and less than 6 in many also) and all the snorklers standing up and stirring up the bottom, the water was silted up and visibility was poor. I logged 17 minutes at 6 ft and got stepped on twice.
We headed back to the boat and on to Kings Spring. The headwaters of Crystal River, Kings Bay is fed by a number of fresh water springs that produce 600 million gallons daily at a consistent 72 degrees F year round. The largest and most famous spring is Kings Spring which is about 75 feet across, dropping down to about 30 feet, where there are two entrances to a cave that goes to a depth of 60 feet and goes back about 50 feet.
On the way we passed several boats of woman revelers and the “gentlemen” onboard shouted their hellos and we had to stop Scott from turning our boat around and following one group. But in all fairness they did overtake a boat full of guys and yelled to them to flex their muscles for me, which they were more than willing to do. I hope the picture comes out.
We arrived at Kings Spring and there was a large sanctuary area set up there too. These sanctuaries are set up each year to protect the manatees from boat and human traffic while they winter in the protection of the river and care for their young until spring when they move back out into the ocean. About a third of the way into the sanctuary area is a cutout that you can dive in and we were heading to that area. Again the water visibility was poor due to the bottom being stirred up by all the sight seers but this area is somewhat deeper than the last one and had many fish swimming in and about the rocks.
About 15 feet down on the bottom, nestled in among some rocks is a cement monument honoring the Manatee Sanctuary. The baby manatee statue on it looked so real we sat for a minute to watch it before realizing our mistake. In this area there were many different levels of rock outcroppings and ledges with different fish swarming beneath them. Just beneath one particularly large ledge the water went from silty green to crystal clear instantly. We knew we had found the spring and right behind it was a cavern, which the guys just had to try. They were able to get to a depth of 50 feet before turning around and coming back..
Once back on the boat we were stowing things away when Scott jumped in to rinse off. Unfortunately we had already removed and stored the ladder. We thought it a good idea to just tow him along behind us but Harley tried to pull him in on the platform on the front of the boat. Let us just say, while amusing for Brian and I, it did not work out.
It was time for us to head back in and call it a day.
This is more of a snorkeling trip than a scuba dive. It is something that should be experienced by divers and non divers alike. Very relaxing and enjoyable, and the company was great.
Manatee Springs
On Sunday we headed up to Manatee Springs. Our first dive was Catfish Hotel Sink. Catfish is a source-sink system. The sink, which is at a depth of 45-50ft marks the entrance to a 500 foot cave that connects to the next basin. The source part of Catfish is at the high end of the pool where it is relatively muddy. The entire sink is covered in Duckweed, as are you and every square inch of your equipment when you exit. I was told to keep an eye out for alligators. As you enter the sink you drop below the Duckweed into clear blue waters which are very easily silted up. There is a large cavern and at the back of the cavern the entrance to the cave system which links many of the surrounding springs. Hundreds of catfish are swimming about in areas that look like ledges but are actually just the canopy of duckweed, which can best be described as natures little green version of shipping popcorn. 80 gazillion little green balls which stick to anything and everything, go everywhere and cannot be corralled or controlled. By hitting this blanket of green with your air bubbles or a flow from your reg a hole immediately opens that gives a fantastic view up to the surface through the crystal clear water and beyond to the surrounding cedar and cypress trees backed by the sunlight. A tremendous sight. While I watched diligently for gators none were to be seen.
We then moved over to Manatee Spring which is a first-magnitude spring producing 81,000 gallons of freshwater every minute or approximately 117 million gallons daily. Water from the spring flows into the Suwannee River and then the Gulf of Mexico. While the name implies that Manatees are there.....they are not. But I was promised that there were baby flounder in the sand and turtle and alligator sightings. The guide said if there weren’t he would do a stupid people trick. I told him if I didn’t see an alligator this time he had best or I wanted a refund.
The entrance to the cave at this site has tremendous flow and you had to hold on to the rocks to keep from being carried away. There were several small fish but no flounder or turtles and definitely no alligators. Let us just say that the “stupid human trick” was truly stupid.
The dive did take all the remaining duckweed out of our equipment though. While the springs and caverns were interesting to see and something everyone should check out..... once...... to skew a quote from our own RJP, Look a rock, and another rock...oooh a million rocks, now lets go dive Jersey.