Kayak & Swim with Manatees at Three Sisters Spring

When the ocean becomes too cold for the manatees, they take refuge in the 70 degree water at Three Sisters Spring. So, the best time to see the manatees in the spring is just after a cold front has come through. We also learned that they will swim back out to the ocean before low tide to avoid becoming trapped in the spring.

Not owning our own boats, we started our adventure at Hunter's Kayaks just up the road from the kayak launch at Hunter Spring's Park. They were great to work with, and hauled our boats, paddles, and life jackets down to the launch for us once we were ready to go. They have an assortment of 2 and 3 person kayaks as well as SUP boards which worked great because we had a party of 10 people (3 adults and 7 kids) that we managed to cram into 4 kayaks.

From the launch, we paddled out past Pete's Pier and followed the shore until we went under the bridge at King's Bay Dr. From there its just a relaxing paddle up the canal to Three Sister's Spring. About halfway up we started spotting manatees in the water, but we were ill prepared for the hundreds that crowded around Three Sisters Spring.

The National Wildlife Refuge manages the area and they have roped off some no-entry zones for the manatees to just chill without being bothered. It was still impressive to see them all clumped together, and there were plenty swimming out and about as well. Mostly they sleep on the sandy bottom and occasionally come up for air.

Once we got to the spring entrance, we tied off our kayaks, donned our life jackets and swam up into the spring. The water inside the spring was definitely warmer than the water in the canal! Although there were a lot of tour groups in the area, we were still able to swim freely and got some up close, personal time with the manatees. You can't swim up to them, but if they swim up to you its all right to reach out and touch them. There are Wildlife Refuge personnel monitoring the area, and they'll get after you if you try and start chasing them down.

After we swam back to our boats, we had a light lunch and paddled back to the park. Overall we were out about 3 hours which was perfect.

You can sign up with a tour group who will take you out to the springs on a boat, provide a wetsuit and goggles, and show you were to go but it was so much more fun to paddle ourselves. We did fine with just our swimsuits and goggles, and although it was a bit chilly our kids managed just fine!