For anyone interested in swimming with the manatee, do it!
We just did it yesterday, and can easliy say it was the best experience of our vacation this time, or anytime!
We used Fun 2 Dive Scuba. They also got excellent ratings on tripadvisor. I chose them because of the small group sizes, and all inclusive. They also keep you out longer.
Captain Joe, of Fun 2 Dive Scuba, was booked, so he referred us to Captain Bill (shown on his website). Captain Joe said Captain Bill no longer works for him, but has his own tour, which he highly recommends since it's exactly the same as his. When we got there, Captain Bill was using a Fun 2 Dive boat too, so I would kind of call them the same company.
Captain Bill was Excellent!! Very informative! We had a group of 6. A mom, her 2 kids (about 11 ish, and 15ish), and their grandmother, myself and my daughter (14). We pulled out before 9:30 (after confirmation that we all watched the safety video and additional instructions of "passive" interaction with the manatee).
We had a couple of encounters with manatee, we snorkeled and swam with them. Captain Bill wasn't satisfied that those particular manatee wanted to interact with us (you are instructed not to approach them at all, just to float near them and wait to see if they want to interact with you)... so we were going to search in other areas, but the grandmother in the group, who was quite elderly, wasn't handling the heat very well at all. We needed to take her back, so we headed back in. By now it was near 2:00pm and I know my daughter was a bit disappointed, but she really liked the grandmother and she too was concerned for her. The other children of course were disappointed too. But, Captain Bill dropped off the family at the dock and took me and my daughter back out again! I did feel bad for the other kids though.
He found a mom and her calf, and we went to swim with them. They did want to interact, and my daughter was in heaven! The manatee seemed to really enjoy our company, just the 3 of us (Captain Bill was right in there with us) floating around them. We were in the water with them well over an hour! My daughter got to pet them, even though at times it seemed like they were petting her..lol, and even I touched them a few times (I appreciated them, am amazed by them, but touching them wasn't something I thought I'd want to do.. I'm a bit wimpy). After a very loud shrimp boat started up near us, and, there was quite a lot of lighting and thunder starting up, not to mention the fact we were pretty cold!... we finally got back into the boat and headed back in. We got back to the dock at just after 4pm!
This company is known for not rushing anything.. and they don't. Captain Bill was full of information and advice. He was very patient, encouraging, and wonderful with my daughter, and the other kids too when they were still on the boat. We had a great time talking with him and snorkeling with him. This was our first time snorkeling too.
This company costs more than the others, but for what you get, and the small group sizes, it is SO worth it! Worth the 2 hour trip from Orlando too!
This is now on our vacation list of things to do every year.
My daughter being a typical teenager is not easily impressed at all these days, but she couldn't stop talking about this experience, and she thanked me a trillion times so far for taking her.
This is a long post/review, but I can't say enough about it. These creatures are truly incredible... so huge, and so gentle. To swim with them was amazing... Captain Bill obviously has so much caring and respect for them, and he passes that on to his passengers in a wonderful learing experience.
I would definitely recommend this company. You can leave early mornign (7:00?) or 11:00 (that's when we got there; you end up in the boat about 12:00 by the time you get your gear and watch the video). Have fun!
