Family Adventure Charters, Crystal River FL

We went swimming with manatees. For the price we had a great time. Didn't go in the water for ever manatee stop but the ride was grey. We went with a fantastic family. The boat ride alone was relaxing. The caption was funny. Equipment could be updated but it did what's its was supposed to do!

Tim and Captain Randy made the Manatee adventure great and interesting fun! Lots of great information about life in the manatee preserve and the extraordinary steps being taken to keeping this beautiful part of the world clean and sound. Good instructions on respecting the manatees and their environment. My 3 sisters and I enjoyed this adventure so much! We highly recommend them!

This was such an awesome experience! I will say though, you gotta really be mindful of the time of year that you go. Nobody actively mislead me but the training videos definitely convey the impression that you will see hundreds of manatees. We did go at the very end of the season (end of March) and thankfully saw around 5 or 6 manatees, but I was told by a volunteer that I was lucky to see *any* at that time. Also, I recommend just paying for the kayak instead of the boat tour. It’s basically the exact same thing except for the kayaks are more exercise for you—everyone ends up at the same spot to swim. It’s worth the $ saved in my opinion:)

We took a manatee tour with Family Adventure Charters a couple days ago and it was an amazing moment! Our captain - not sure of his first name, but his email started with escuad being his first name in spanish ;) - was great and explained us so many interesting stuff about manatees! We have been moving to 4 different spots and each time our captain found them. Some have been playing a lot with them, it was incredible! We were only the 4 of us during the tour (we booked the tour with max 6 people). The tour has to be paid in cash for unknown.reasons and the old owner (I guess) was not particularly friendly but saved by the cool other guy who showed us the movie and bring us to the boat + by our great captain as already mentionned! All the family recommend this place.

We had a great experience from start to finish with Family Adventure Charter. Friendly and outgoing employees walked us through every step of the way. We were assisted by the very personable Dana when booking over the phone, who directed us to the building. Captain Tim gave clear instructions and assisted us in getting our wet suits on. Captain Randy was very knowledgeable about the waters and informative about manatees and environmental preservation. He was able to lead us directly to several manatees where after just a few minutes in the water, we were able to see and pet the friendly manatees when they rose to the surface. Overall great time and once in a lifetime experience!

We went on a dry tour today and it was awesome! We saw tons of manatees, pelicans, cormorants and a few impressive osprey nests. Our captain, Captain Randy, was very knowledgeable and kept us entertained throughout the tour, as well. We went on a day following some rainy weather and Captain Randy said the water wasn't as clear as usual, but we were still able to see pretty well. I'd love to go back and do the snorkel tour! This tour company was great, because we were able to park directly on the pier. We definitely will come back to Captain Tim's for our next adventure with the manatees! Thanks!

Awesome experience. "The only place where it's legal to swim with manatees. " So glad we looked into alternatives to Clearwater. We did a semi private group, so there were 6 of us on our boat. Everyone got to see/touch a manatee. Our captain was knowledgeable, patient, and polite. He did a great job communicating with other boats to get us access. I'd definitely return to this company again for this experience. Wetsuits/snorkeling gear provided/included in rate.

We were getting ready to board. For obvious reasons, everyone (not just our group) wanted to use the restroom before putting on the wet suit. They have one restroom and when my wife and 4-year-old went to use it he started banging on the door to get them out. They had not been in there longer than 2 minutes. We walked out of there in shock and did not do the boat tour. Do not recommend this company, the facility is run down and only has one bathroom, I understand they have portapotties on the boat but using the restroom before boarding is common sense. Very unpleasant experience!

I had a really wonderful experience at Family Adventure Charters. Captain Carlos went above and beyond and everyone we encountered while there were friendly, helpful, and enthusiastic. I appreciated the knowledgeable captains and we had many spectacular manatee encounters. I would definitely recommend visiting them.

Captain Randy was super awesome! He had lots of super interesting facts about the area and the environment! He went out of his way to make sure we had fun and felt comfortable the whole time! All of the captains who worked with my group, Randy, Tim, and Carlos, were so knowledgeable and nice!

Five star for Stephanie and Capitan Carlos, had a super duper blast encounter 5 Manatees including a mommy and super playful baby even turned over for his belly for us to scratch, what a fun day! Life time experience, from beginning the greeting, video tutorial to later Captain Carlos's professional guidance, we had a super wonderful experience swimming with Manatees today, thank you Family Adventure, thank you Stephenie and most thankful to Captain Carlos, you made our experience unforgettable! Two thumbs up!

Our family truly enjoyed the swimming with Manatees! It was such a precious memories for all of us! Captain Carlos is a very friendly and considerate. I have two young age Girls, Carlos helped us to spot Many manatees to swim with. The boat ride was very smooth and kids friendly. We saw a dolphin as our bonus for this trip!

Captain Carlos made our trip entertaining and fun! The manatees were amazing and the entire staff was so nice! 10/10 experience

Loved this experience! Captain randy was so funny and entertaining and found the most manatees! Overall such a great time especially with a big group.thanks guys!

We saw a lot of manatees and the trip was well worth it, Carlos the captain of the boat was a pleasure to talk to and was very knowledgeable and went above and beyond.
Captain Tim however was very grumpy at times, his wife made up for his abrupt manor though.

My husband and I really enjoyed our day with Family Adventure Charters! Captain Tim and the ladies in the office welcomed us, and made sure we were comfortable. We were taught the important information needed for interacting with the manatees. We laughed while putting on our wetsuits and then we were off to the boat. There we met Carlos a very nice and polite Captain. He was very knowledgeable about the springs and found the areas for us to enjoy the manatees, without other tour groups. It was just the 2 of us. The last part of our tour Carlos found 2 young manatees that wanted to be pet, and stayed by us for a good amount of time. It was wonderful to be able to experience these gentle animals and to also enjoy that we were able to go at our pace.
If you are interested in a small group setting and to have a very peaceful experience with these wonderful creatures, look no further than
Family Adventure Charters.

We took a manatee tour with Family Adventure Charters a couple weeks ago and it was nothing short of amazing! One of the first things that drew us in was the fact that there would only be a maximum of 6 people on the boat - this was a major bonus because it wasn't too crowded and we felt like we really got the full experience. It took a little while before we found any manatees, but Captain Carlos was persistent and ended up finding a great spot. Carlos had a great personality and lots of knowledge regarding the area and the manatees. Not only was the tour fun and upbeat, but we learned a lot too. We had such a wonderful time and will absolutely take another tour with Family Adventure Charters the next time we visit Florida!

We went on the Manatee swim yesterday with Captain Randy. It was an excellent 3 hours. The family managed to get into the water several times with manatees and we saw Dolphins, turtles and nesting Osprey, all in their natural habitat. Captain Randy was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and entertaining and hugely added to the enjoyment of the trip. We particularly liked that the maximum party per boat was 6 so we had the trip to ourselves. The company was very professional and obviously care greatly about the welfare of the manatees. I can’t recommend this trip enough.

Family Adventure Charters does a phenomenal job in taking care of their guests. My wife and I had a great experience on this. It was incredible. Mark, our captain, took such incredible care of us. There was only a few people on the boat due to time and date, and having fewer people was great. It was very customized to what we wanted to do and Mark was very aware and keen on finding the manatees. The manatees were so incredible to see. They're absolutely huge. I highly recommend having your tour done through this business. They treat you well and take great care. If I ever come back and do a manatee tour again, they have my business again.