"Best" dolphin, manatee and turtle encounter (snorkeling)

Another question, close to our trip to FL. I've found lots of info on SB, but I still am not sure with the best spots for snorkeling to see dolphins, manatis and turtles.
While I prefer scuba, my wife loves easy snorkeling and of course she wants to see "big" animals too. We are doing a round trip from Miami to Jupiter, to the Gulf coast downwards to the keys, key Largo + Biscayne park, then back to Miami.

Where would be the best places to see some big animals at snorkeling? Shore would be fine, but if there are great boat snorkeling trips this would be fine too.

As always: great board, thanks for any hint!

snorkeling to see dolphins? I have seen dolphins swimming in the surf (acutally feeding) up near west palm beach.. Didn't go diving with them though.. WIld dolphins are not as friendly as Flipper or Winter (Good luck unless you pay $235 for a themepark experience.) Turtles you can see all the time from the keys up to Pompano Beach via the snorkeling off the beach. Manatees---they are up at crystal river up near ORlando.. you can take a snorkel charter and hang out with them. you can see them swimming in the intercoastal from Fort lauderdale on up but don't hop in the water as you are sure to be disintegrated by the boat propellers of all the yachts!

I take it it's your first time to Florida?

Yes, it is. Of course we know only that what one can read in the tourist guide books and no, we don't want to pay for themepark dolphins. So, probably this was a bad idea at all and maybe we should just come and see, what is going to happen
But thanks for the hints with the Manatees and turtles, so we will try our chances.

Crystal River manatee trips are best done in the winter when temps are low...the spring fed water temps are around 72, and the manatees congregate for warmth.

I've gone twice with Bird's Underwater tours and had a wonderful experience each time.

I did a manatee snorkel with American Pro in Crystal River. After the snorkel, a DM took the scuba divers into Kings Cavern. Coming out of Kings Cavern, you'll get unique perspective on any manatees that happen to be close by since you will be looking up at them. Later in the day, we dove the Rainbow River with a mixed group of divers and snorkelers. It was an interesting experience but I doubt I'll rush back again. The dives were bucket list type adventures for me. Been there' happy to have done it, but ready to return to diving the oceans in Jupiter south to the keys. As noted above: winter is the best time to see manatees.

There are some dive ops that take divers and snorkelers on the same boat (
To shallow sites) in Key Kargo. Check out Silent World and Quiescence. I've seen turtles on some shallow dives but there no guaranty that you will.

Scubator.net:

Another question, close to our trip to FL. I've found lots of info on SB, but I still am not sure with the best spots for snorkeling to see dolphins, manatis and turtles.
While I prefer scuba, my wife loves easy snorkeling and of course she wants to see "big" animals too. We are doing a round trip from Miami to Jupiter, to the Gulf coast downwards to the keys, key Largo + Biscayne park, then back to Miami.

Where would be the best places to see some big animals at snorkeling? Shore would be fine, but if there are great boat snorkeling trips this would be fine too.

As always: great board, thanks for any hint!

Click to expand...

No Question the best place to see Turtles will be the Breakers Reef to Pauls Reef area of West Palm Beach, Fl. In the last 6 times I have been out to Pauls Reef ( south of breakers by about 5 miles), I have seem Bottlenose Dolphins on the surface playing in the wake of the Boat 4 of those times, and on 2 of these, I saws them underwater during my dive...one of those I stayed with the pod of 25 dolphin for over 15 minutes.. see Dolphins on Pauls Reef WMV 7 Mbps 1080p - YouTube

As to turtles, see this.... breakers-pauls1 - YouTube it is 15 minutes of video from one 2 tank dive trip on Breakers and Pauls...We saw over 10 turtles this day..the video, while long, will show what a snorkelor would see, as well as what a scuba diver would see. ...I would say though, that if your wife wants to see turtles, it is hard to get a good vantage point for this snorkeling unless you are a very good freediver.....a better option for her would be having Pura Vida take her out on the boat with the divers, and give her a "Tooka" experience .... see tooka article ( this is usually done at the BHB Marine Park, but if she is good at snorkeling, she would be perfect on this over Breakers Reef or Pauls....this allows a non-diver to be up to 20 feet down, breathing from a hose from above, and with an instructor/guide right next to her the whole time, offering 5 Star level Resort assistance/service the entire time..the crown of these reefs, where the turtles tend to hang out, are from 37 to 42 feet deep, and floating along 10 feet off the bottom is what most scuba divers would be doing anyway--this gives the Tooka user almost the same exact vantage point, with zero effort.