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I just realized that I never posted this so, here goes & will summarize the full family Florida road trip soon.

We kicked off 2017 with one big check off the Bucket List, swimming with manatees in Crystal River, Florida. What an awesome experience & one I learned about from THE travel bible, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. For this once-in-a-lifetime experience, head over to Crystal River, about 80 miles west of Orlando during the months of Nov-Feb. If possible, do the swim in the early morning when the water is clear & the crowds are at a minimum. Isn’t this beautiful?

We followed the guide book & stayed at the Best Western Crystal River Resort. It is on the same property as the Crystal Lodge Dive Center & is the highest rated hotel in the area. There are other options you can search for online but, this is not a chi chi area so don’t go into this looking for a Ritz Carlton. Your world is the likes of Days Inn & Hampton Inn. I liked our hotel for its proximity to the dive shop & a lively dive bar, Cracker’s Bar, Grill & Tiki. Seeing the theme here?

I especially liked our guide as he was very considerate of the manatees & showed us the proper way to engage with them while in the water.

This is the dive center -in every sense of the word- & boy was it indicative to its geographical location ?

We couldn’t make the early morning time as recommended but the 12pm tour worked out great because we ended up being the only people on the boat. We also got to see hundreds of manatees! One even swam over & gave Jacob a big wet smooch!

I wish I had better photos but it was hard enough staying afloat without disturbing the mega mammals. If you look closely, you can see a few here…

Guys, I can’t say enough about this experience & would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun, new & totally authentic time with the family.

Once done swimming, change into your finest bayside chic & take a stroll down to the water where you can watch the fishermen clean their days catch while the greedy pelicans hover about.