Florida Riverfront Eco-Resort Offering Swim with Manatees Packages

The eco-friendly Plantation on Crystal River is surrounded by the natural springs of Kings Bay and more than 25,000 surface acres of pristine lakes and rivers, as well as wildlife refuges and state parks. On site, the Plantation features a full-service family-oriented dive and tour marina, 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space, 27 holes of golf, a spa, delectable dining, and inviting accommodations. Guests have the unique opportunity to swim with the manatees (the only place you can in North America), rent a pontoon or Jon boat, relax by the riverfront pool, enjoy a game of croquet on the manicured lawn, or hire a guided fishing charter. With more than 1,600 feet of seawall, overnight guests can tie up their boats at any of over 80 spaces. A golf school and scuba certification classes are also available to guests of the resort.

Discover the beautiful Crystal River area in a unique way and learn how to help keep the region preserved and protected with an Eco-Tour. Explore all that the Nature Coast has to offer with the most informative and least invasive tour around, featuring passive observation of the region’s ecological treasures.

Take a Do Not Disturb kayaking adventure with manatees or explore the coastal mangroves, rivers, and springs. Hike throughout the Nature Coast’s pristine habitats, or take an informative heritage tour of our pre-Columbian Indian mounds with ACA-certified kayaking instructors of A Crystal River Kayak Company. Plantation guests receive special discounted rates on many tours.

The Plantation on Crystal River has created a new one-night package offering guests the rare chance to enter the underwater world of the West Indian Manatee. The riverfront resort is in Crystal River, Florida, the only location in North America where it is legal to swim alongside and interact with these “sea cows” in the wild. Hundreds of the slow-moving mammals are making their way from the cooler winter waters of the Gulf of Mexico to Crystal River’s network of the pristine springs, where the waters remain a constant 72°F.

Offering the area’s premier manatee tours, the Plantation Adventure Center & Dive Shop is located at the resort, providing semi-dry masks and snorkels and wetsuits that allow for maximum buoyancy and body heat retention, avoiding the need for floatation devices. All manatee tour boats, which are enclosed, provide hot chocolate and coffee, warming boat coats and towel service. All tour captains are licensed, insured and USCG certified, and each boat is equipped with power poles to limit environmental impact.

Upon return from their tour, guests are treated to a hot shower facility and changing rooms for those who already checked out or snorkelers not staying at the resort. High-quality photos and videos are available for purchase after the tour. Manatee tours leave directly from the resort’s on-property dock at the Plantation Adventure Center.

Manatee tours are offered year-round at the Plantation Adventure Center & Dive Shop, headquarters for Florida’s best spring dives, but guests are more likely to see more of these gentle giants in the winter months, when they seek out the relatively warmer waters of Florida’s second largest spring system. During prime manatee viewing season, which usually runs from Nov. 15 through March 31, depending on temperatures, guests can experience the truly unique travel adventure of swimming among hundreds of manatees as they play, eat, and socialize with one another.