Florida trip "review"

We went down to Florida last week and I tried to do a couple of things. First, we did the manatee snorkel, which was a big draw for me and my daughter. We ended up using American Pro Dive Center (Manatee Tour | Swim with Manatee | Guided Florida Manatee Tours) and they weren't too bad. Decent outfit that got us there and in the water pretty reasonably. Our guide, Cameron, was a very talkative and interactive guide and I liked his personality. We found a few manatee and slipped in the water. Once in the water, though, I was at first annoyed because Cameron stood in the water for a good 15 minutes with everyone gathered around him and the only manatees in the area apparently gone. It turned out to be a great experience though, with a very interactive youth that everyone on the boat really enjoyed. Viz wasn't great, but that didn't seem to bother anyone. Hopefully I'll get a chance to put up a video I took later.

After the manatee snorkel we trekked up to the rainbow river and did my first drift dive. Interesting experience but not one I'll bother with repeating, to be honest. The water was perfectly clear and I got to see a couple gar fish a few bass and some other things I'm not sure of but the variance in depth bothered me enough to not really think it was worth doing again. I was very glad the "tour" was only $40 including tank price. Nevertheless, it was a dive and worth doing once. I did go into the "cavern" that was at about 15-18 foot depth and only large enough to swim in and turn around so that was another first.

I was supposed to do a dive with SBer "onefastpony" but ended up not being able to make that, which was disappointing. Maybe next time.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions on dives and shops. I'll be heading back in a few weeks to the FLL area so hopefully I'll get a couple dives at Jupiter or Blue Heron Bridge while I'm there.

In the meantime, here are a couple shots I took from the boat on the manatee tour and in the water at rainbow river. I clearly need to work on my photography, but these will remind me what I saw, at least.

yah, rainbow is disappointing but fun to do once. I got cert'd there and will prob not got back. GO TO THE KEYS!

fjpatrum:

In the meantime, here are a couple shots I took from the boat on the manatee tour and in the water at rainbow river. I clearly need to work on my photography, but these will remind me what I saw, at least.

Click to expand...

And educates some of us who have never been there. Thanks.

Kevin

Look us up next time you come down. We would love to take you and your family out. I am glad you were able to make it down here. Florida has some of the coolest dives and the widest range of dives too. Check out our website below.

Sorry for your experience. I know timing is everything on these kind of tours.

During the first week of March a group of us went to a manatee dive at Crystal River through Bird's Underwater Tours. Most of the manatees had gone or were leaving, though we had a good time and saw maybe 40 manatees in the preserve area and four or five that wanted to interact with us out in the bay.

The prior year when it was colder (early February) my son and I went and interacted with 15 or 20 up in Three Sisters Spring and saw another hundred or so. As they come inshore to avoid the cold weather, I wouldn't plan on that dive again past the end of February unless we were having an especially long cold winter.

This year we also did the Rainbow River float which I found to be new and lots of fun (but then I'm not normally a fresh water diver) - not challenging but kind of like flying downstream in excellent viz, followed by cavern dives at the Devils Den and Blue Grotto. Those were also very novel experiences for me.

I certainly wouldn't write off going on another manatee trip if it were in January or February.

Contact the Gold Coast Scuba meetup when you're coming to FLL and sign up for the trial membership. The shop will help you coordinate with local beach dives (and whatever boat dives they've scheduled), and if I can I'll buddy up if you need someone - my GCS name is "Bill" - my profile pic was taken at Crystal River.

Thanks, Bilsant! I would definitely do the manatee snorkel again, just not the rainbow river. the river was a fine experience, just not one I think I need to do multiple times. If it was in my backyard I'd dive it every day but I don't think it's worth the special trip, that's all. Next time I'll get down to Blue Grotto or Devil's Den and see how those are. Hopefully by that point I won't be struggling to find dive buddies...

fjpatrum:

I was supposed to do a dive with SBer "onefastpony" but ended up not being able to make that, which was disappointing. Maybe next time.

Click to expand...

Missed you on the dive. Had a great time. Did two wrecks and saw tons of life on both of them with viz at about 40ft. Just a little tip for next time though, if you have to cancel on a boat dive, don't just call the person you are supposed to dive with, but make sure you cancel with the Captain.

Look forward to diving with you next time if you are in the area.

onefastpony, yeah I was trying to find the number but couldn't figure out the shop name and didn't have access to the email you sent me with it. I felt like a jerk for not letting the shop know but couldn't really figure out any way to tell them without their name. Next time I'll write down all the pertinent information instead of just some of it... but next time I will plan better and won't have to bail last minute. Sorry about the whole thing. I really appreciated the offer to dive with me.

I also did recently did my one of my cert dives in Rainbow River. I did not like it near as much as Devil's Den or Crystal River. I think it would make a better snorkel than Scuba dive. I found that buoyancy control was difficult for me at 5-10 feet (which is 90% of the dive).

Did you also dive in Kings cavern in Crystal River: when a buddy and I went with American Pro, we did the cavern dive right after the manatee snorkel but prior to heading to rainbow river. The cavern dive was lead by a American Pro employee. I would not rush back to Kings Cavern again, but it was interesting to do once.

I felt about as you did with Rainbow River: enjoyed it and it was worth doing once, but probably would not dive it again for quite some time. I found the 'bubbling sands' where the low pressure springs enter the river to be interesting. Sort of like watching 'sand lava'.