Three Sisters Spring–Crystal River

 
Crystal River Florida
GPS Coordinates: 28.887959, -82.589456
Date: 1/2/2011

We have a pair of kayaks, but we needed at third since our daughter Allison was joining us on this trip. So, we drove south to the Crystal River Kayak Company. This business, right on US-19  in Crustal River, has a good selection of kayaks for rent and is also just a short paddle to the Three Sisters Springs. From the put in the springs is an easy 10 minute paddle through a series of canals. During the winter, this area is a haven for manatees, with a great number of them hanging out by the spring run. . We were early enough that the crowds were not too bad yet. We kayaked around and returned about an hour later and it was a very busy time with lots of charter/tour boats. If you want to do this trip, then I would recommend visiting Three Sisters Springs in the early morning or NOT on a weekend!!

Nice blue skies make for a good day on the water.

This is the area right outside the Three Sisters Springs. The area beyond the roped off area is if for Manatees only and gives them a place to get away from all the commotion.

One of the manatees swimming near our kayak in the nice clear spring water.

You can tell from this picture that the area is starting to get crowded with tour boats and other motor boats.

We kayaked up the short spring run to the Three Sisters Springs. It is usually much quieter in here and usually there’s a few manatees hanging out in the spring boils.

My daughter in the rental kayak. The rentals were much nicer than the kayaks that we have, but guess they probably cost more also!!

You don’t see too many pictures of me in this blog since I’m always the one taking the pictures, but somehow one slipped in here.

This picture shows how nice and clear the spring water is and there’s a manatee hanging near the bottom of the spring.

And finally, here is the GPS track of this trip.
Crystal River - Manatee trip at EveryTrail