Manatee, Crystal Spring River, FL

Looking for operators recommendation and hotel/motel/resort recommendation.

Free free to point me to old post, I just couldnt' find it. I am spending a weekend there and just need some jump start advise on planning the accomodation.

I know I will be snookleing, not diving. But feel free to recommend me fresh water caave diving experience/certification as well. I am open for that too.

Thank you !

Dominic

Short answer: You want to go with Bird's Underwater. Absolutely under no circumstances go with "American Pro". There are good threads at

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...irds+underwater

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12814&hl=

I have gone with Bird's three time and they have been first rate. Check out some images at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsteve/sets/72157623438754737/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsteve/sets/72157594313202497/

Enjoy

Short answer: You want to go with Bird's Underwater. Absolutely under no circumstances go with "American Pro". There are good threads at

 

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showt...irds+underwater

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=12814&hl=

 

I have gone with Bird's three time and they have been first rate. Check out some images at

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsteve/sets/72157623438754737/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drsteve/sets/72157594313202497/

 

Enjoy

Dr. S. I was suprised you are the first to response :-) I am very familary w/ your flickr pics (I am a contactat) :-) Thanks for the tip.

Dr. S. I was suprised you are the first to response :-) I am very familary w/ your flickr pics (I am a contactat) :-) Thanks for the tip.

Pleasantly surprised I hope. I am moderately active

on this forum.

Is there a " best " time fo year for photographing these beauties.

Stew

Yes. You want to go in the winter. When the ocean water temperature drops below the spring water temperature, the Manatees congregate in the springs. If you go in the summer, you will find some, but only a few.

Hi Stew and Steve,

yes, winter is the time to go, BUT: See my post / question in this forum from a few days ago about the current situation. Maybe Three Sister Springs will or already is closed for snorkelling. And outside the spring photpgraphy is, well, not thaaaat good. Almost (or maybe all???) good photos I have seen are from inside the springs.

Unfortunately, I got no answer yet on my post.

Jock

I checked your post. Do you have a reference to the article that said that they were closing the spring to snorkeling? I haven't seen that anywhere. The last I read the purchase of the land and the transfer to the parks service was effectively a done deal. I agree that the three sisters spring is the best place to see and photograph the Manatees, and it would be a real shame if it were closed to snorkelers.

Yes. You want to go in the winter. When the ocean water temperature drops below the spring water temperature, the Manatees congregate in the springs. If you go in the summer, you will find some, but only a few.

I was thinking to maybe tag a few days on the front of a Bahamas trip in march. If snorkelling is still allowed then, would march fall inside of the winter time there.

Cheers for the replies.

Stew

The links were posted on the wetpixel homepage (http://wetpixel.com/i.php/index.php/P20/); here they are again:

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/w...c-hands/1111642

! ! ! Scroll down to the comments from "sisterspring" (Jul 28, 2010 4:34 PM) ! ! !

http://www.conservationfund.org/news/three...springs-florida

Jock

I was thinking to maybe tag a few days on the front of a Bahamas trip in march. If snorkelling is still allowed then, would march fall inside of the winter time there.

 

Cheers for the replies.

 

Stew

Depends......all depends on the weather. This year we had a very cold, long winter, so the manatees were there for an extended period of time. Bottom line, they are in the Springs only if they need to be there to take advantage of the 72 degree year round water temp. Early March may still be good, late March it could already be too warm. The snorkeling issue is ongoing; there are rumblings every year that snorkeling will be ended. I think it is quite likely snorkeling will be at least restricted, if not completely stopped, within the next few years. Overall I think that will be a good thing for the manatees, as it can really be a three ring circus when they bring in large numbers of pretty obnoxious people on the boats.

For those like myself, who like to go alone or with a small group on kayaks or our own pontoon boat, that will be unfortunate, but something I can live with if the manatees will benefit.

Just a comment, the Port Hotel has really gone down over the last few years. I recommend the Plantation Inn; a little more expensive though.

The links were posted on the wetpixel homepage (http://wetpixel.com/i.php/index.php/P20/); here they are again:

 

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/w...c-hands/1111642

! ! ! Scroll down to the comments from "sisterspring" (Jul 28, 2010 4:34 PM) ! ! !

 

http://www.conservationfund.org/news/three...springs-florida

Yes, I was aware of the hopepage article, but the only thing I missed was the comment from "sisterspring." Thanks for the reference. I certainly hope that in the process of managing the property as a Wildlife Refuge they don't close the springs down to swimming and kayaking. That would be a real shame.

I dashed off a quick email to the people at Bird's and they said that as far as they know, there are no plans to close the springs to snorkelers or kayaks. We will see.

It will be interesting to see how the parks service will develop the land adjacent to the springs; from what I hear it is likely they will provide public access to the property to the North of the springs, build public facilities like restrooms etc and probably provide viewing access for the public to the springs from this property. Until now this property was private so one could not set foot on land around the springs, with the only access to the springs by watercraft from the canal to the south. I did get the opportunity to walk this property, with permission from the owner, earlier this year. This is all speculation on my part, but if the property is developed with public facilities then land viewing access will be possible, and then I guess it will even be possible that one will be able to simply get in the springs and snorkel directly from this property. If the parks service applies the same rules to these springs as they do to other manatee filled springs such as Blue Springs, then it is quite possible that snorkeling will be really restricted or stopped eventually in my opinion. Obviously this will not play well with the boat operators, so maybe some other arrangement will be worked out. I would be interested to hear if anybody has any knowledge on how the parks plan to develop the property if at all.

Here is a link to the new Crystal River, King's Bay Emergency Manatee Refuge Flyer (in effect now)

New Manatee Refuge Flyer

It also contains times of four upcoming public meetings and links to FAQ and the 20+ page detailed document on the Federal Register.

Developing the Three Sisters Springs property is down the road aways. Right now, the Refuge managers and everyone will have their hands full with the new in-water regulations. Basically, there are some new and necessary restrictions now on manatee observation for the good of the manatees and the Refuge Officials now have full powers to change the existing manatee sanctuary boundaries as needed for the manatee's well-being. This will be done throughout the season on an as-needed basis. It happened last Jan on a small scale when an unprecedented cold spell necessitated the closing of Three Sisters Springs for a period of time. I believe this will happen more this season during cold and busy times. It is absolutely necessary for the growing population of manatees to shelter in the Crystal River sanctuaries, especially due to the record breaking manatee mortalities in 2010 brought on by prolonged record cold.

So what can hopeful manatee observers and photographers do? Read the flyer (link above) and links on the Federal Refuge Site; realize that this season will be transitional and how much interaction that occurs in the future will likely be determined by how well parties work together with the new Refuge Rules; and bring lots of politeness and patience when observing manatees this season. It may be harder to see and photograph manatees because of possible expanded sanctuaries and stricter protocol, but remember this is best for this endangered species and at least they aren't forbidding all in-water observation of manatees, as it is in the rest of the state. I know it will be hard to predict when places like Three Sisters Springs will be closed off for a no- entry sanctuary, but the weather and manatee use will be the factor for when that happens and as we know Mother Nature is unpredictable! ;-) Carol

I've been photographing manatees in and around Three Sisters spring every winter for the last 6 years. I just made a trip up there for the first time since the new laws went into effect last Nov. All I can say is all my images and footage from the last 5 years has just increased in value by multiples, because to reproduce the best of them would require one to now risk a huge fine and/or a federal lock up. You will have to risk a big fine to get high quality low angle underwater shots in there. There is no legal way around it, even by permit.

The reality of the new law:

Note that the new law isn't really against scuba, it's against diving in any form. You cannot dive down to a manatee even on snorkel or if you're buck naked. The law is worded to say any harassment is punishable by fine and/or imprisonment. Then it goes to define harassment as anything that alters the behavior of a manatee. It goes to include harassment as 'diving down on to a resting or feeding manatee'. Carefully note this is worded "on to" not "onto". Now here is the practicality of this enforcing this particular statute. The US Fish and Wildlife officers (now stationed like storm troopers around the spring) are not in the water, and have no intention of ever being in the water. If you dive down, they can't see what you are doing, so they need to suppose you are diving down on to a resting or feeding manatee. You will be told by the tour operator or boat rental shop FIRMLY and REPEATEDLY that you need to keep your head above the water at all times, or risk a Federal fine. You can put your face in the water, but your head can't go below the surface. If you think I'm kidding, take your DSLR camera into Three Sisters and you'll see you'll attract more attention from the 'law enforcement' people than a mut hound does fleas.

What I found very ironic was that even though harassment is defined as anything you do that alters the behavior of a manatee, this apparently excludes kayaks for now. My police officer buddy and I witnessed several occurrences where a manatee trying to enter the narrow spring run actually backed up and aborted its attempt to swim up the spring because of an armada of kayaks lined up overhead trying to exit the spring. At one point, there were 10 kayaks lined up trying to exit. (go it all on video.) This obviously constitutes harassment by the definition given by the law. I expect big changes to specifically regulate kayaks is coming next year.

FWIW, I used to shoot in Three Sister's on scuba, and would calmly sit in one place while manatees would approach me and check me out out of curiosity while masses of snorkelers and kayaks chased them around at the surface. On one instance, I had a manatee come up to me and put his eye repeatedly up to my lens to see what it was. Apparently he was seeing his reflection. Made for a great experience and equally great images. Glad I was able to do so while I could. If you still plan to try your luck, I suggest you learn to hip shoot or shoot blind by holding your camera as far as you can underwater, angled up to attempt to pull off a low-angled shot.

Best regards,

Brian

I've done my last trip to Three Sisters. When things start to feel like one's at Disney or at the zoo, its time to move on.............

Too many other places to go and things to see.

Brian,

I simply cannot understand what you are talkin' about - I just returned from a one week trip to Crystal River, and on four days I REPEATEDLY free-dived in three sister springs, even under the eyes of a wildlife officer. In between I asked him, and he said yeah, absolutely no problem with diving. You don't believe me? Trust me, I am telling the truth!

Okay, maybe I should mention that within this week (25Feb to 05March) there was not one single Manatee in the springs

And if there is no manatee inside, you can do what you want! The weather was simply too warm, so they had moved out. I tried one late afternoon just before sunset and three early mornings just after sunrise. Bad luck...

Jock

p.s.: There was an "open house" one morning, and I talked to some officers. They plan to build a wooden walkway, maybe some sections on stilts, around the springs, and the number of swimmers / snorklers / kayakers per day will probably limited.

p.p.s: Of course the officers have no idea of what you are doing there if you go on scuba or free dive. And from what I saw on my four or five days in 2010, boy, they are right. Now all of us have to live with the restrictions that were introduced due to the behaviour of some stupid a**holes. That's life!

Here is a link to the new Crystal River, King's Bay Emergency Manatee Refuge Flyer (in effect now)

New Manatee Refuge Flyer

 

It is absolutely necessary for the growing population of manatees to shelter in the Crystal River sanctuaries, especially due to the record breaking manatee mortalities in 2010 brought on by prolonged record cold.

Growing population as more Manatees in total, or just more in the Crystal River area? I'm not up to date on the overall Manatee population, but that's great news if it is a total population increase!

Also just to jump in on a previous post, I definitely would NOT recommend Bird's. In fact I found all of the operators in the Crystal River area in desperate need of having their heads banged together. As much as I'd hate to see it happen, after the awful behaviour of every single operator I saw when I was there a few years ago then perhaps banning snorkeling and access to Three Sisters in general is a good thing. The way the operators (especially Birds) packed more and more and more people into such a tiny area when the Manatees were trapped and had no where to go was just sickening to watch.

Cheers, Simon

I just caught this post and totally agree...last time I went it was like the zoo, but with inbred geriatrics all wearing their gear before the boat left the dock and using a noodle to swim with....and it was Bird's.

I've done my last trip to Three Sisters. When things start to feel like one's at Disney or at the zoo, its time to move on.............

Too many other places to go and things to see.