We had a tour with Csptain Chris and Crosby. It was amazing. There was a little baby manager around the boat and it stayd there all the time. Mama was swimming near by. The kids could stay in the water all the time. On board drinks and snacks. Thank you Chris and Crosby for the wonderfull time

My family & I had an absolute blast swimming with the manatees with our awesome crew—guide Mike & Captian Emerson! Our experience far exceeded our expectations on all fronts! Swimming with the manatees was a surreal experience we will all remember the rest of our life! Mike & Emerson were kind & patient with our three kids & allowed all of us all to be at ease & have so much fun. They were very knowledgeable about the manatees, birds & environment & highly respected the rules in place to keep the wildlife & us safe. They also had wonderful recommendations for other fun things to do in the area, all of which were a hit!! Thanks guys—so great to get to do a bucket list adventure with you!!

We had Guide James-this was hands down the highlight of our vacation to Florida this year. My husband and myself and brother and sister in law all went and we had a manatee almost the whole time! James was so full of knowledge and information and just seemed like an amazing soul who truly had passion for his job. I cannot for the life of me remember the Captains name, but am pretty sure they always work as a pair and that the name is Captian Emerson, but they were so authentic and made our tour so fun. A lot of times when you do activities like this the guide is awkward or stuffy and to be honest we would have taken both out for drinks after!!! It just felt like a day spent on the bay with friends ya know? I was scared of the snorkels and he taught me how and I didn’t bring my face up much after! Can’t wait to go back!

We swam with at least 20 manatees..we saw a baby calf nursing on it's mother, we saw about 6 dolphins up close and personal. JJ and Natalie were very knowledgeable about the manatees. We learned alot and had a truly memorable experience.

Marissa from River Ventures was our manatee guide on this very educational and pleasant private tour, and Chris was our captain. Marissa and Chris are two very endearing and warm people with whom one enjoys spending time! Both of them treat the manatees and their habitat with utmost respect and caution, a practice they pass on directly to their customers, just as it should be. They have fulfilled a personal dream of mine that I have cherished since I was 14 years old, ever since I saw pictures of the manatees in Crystal River in a nature book :-). Heartfelt thanks for that, Marissa & Chris! My family and I can wholeheartedly recommend River Ventures!! The booking process from abroad is very professionally managed … keep it up!!!

Crosby & Kelly were great. We took our 2 kids, age 4 & 6 & they were so accommodating for them! Definitely recommend & will be back!

The captain and mate (Micheal and Dani) were great we loved them, I would have rated this 5 stars if maybe we were warned ahead of time that we were going to be in very murky water and not really see much of the manatees. It was a fun day but we only really saw one maybe two and there were a lot of other tours in the same area and we only could spend a limited time with the one we saw. I have done the tour before and it was in the winter in the springs. That is the way to go, don't go anytime past February or you likely won't see many manatee and because the weather is warmer there are lots more people on the water and the manatee leave the springs to go out to the gulf and other areas. So they are hard to find and it is kind of a bummer. Dani was the best part of the trip, she was informative and really helped us at least get around the one maybe two manatee we did see.

Coming in to this trip I was a little skeptical. I didn’t have a dad; I’ve always wanted one. Talking to my tour guide really made me realize that he’s me dad now. He told me that “I will now be your sea daddy” Now I took that too heart I loved the experience and now I found my meaning in life to become a sea daddy.

We had a great time on this tour. Captain Bryan and Guide Mike really made a wonderful experience for us. Feel like this company cares about manatees and looks out for their well being by teaching safety and guidance in the water. We saw 20+ manatees, even though late in the season. Going earlier is better, colder weather makes the manatees come into the spring waters. Also, Mike did a great job capturing photos and videos (the one attached to review is from the company). The picture/video package is pretty reasonable and you can review all pictures online before buying them. This place is really great, totally recommend.

We booked the early morning guided swim tour. Dave, our knowledgeable guide, stepped us through the best practices and we viewed a video to prepare us for our tour. Dave accurately sized us up for wetsuits and then they took us to meet Capt Jayson at the marina. Dave expertly spied a manatee family and we quietly and calmly slipped into the water to freeze and float and simply observe the mother and her baby’s interactions. What a privelege to spend a morning witnessing the manatees as well as the various schools of fish and a cormorant fishing in the waters below. We completely lost track of time. Highly recommend!

Thank you Cpt. Jayson and Dave!! My husband and I had an amazing experience! This organization loves manatees and it shows through their work! We will be back!

Capt Kelly and James did a great job on our tour. They got us to a fantastic spot to see so many manatees. James was very knowledgeable and a fun guide. He was great with all our young kids and gave them so many neat facts about the manatees. Capt Kelly was a great boat captain and had hot chocolate ready when we got out of the water. Overall a wonderful experience and we will definitely use them again

Sheila & Mike were awesome! There were 5 people in our group, ages 11-53. Everyone had a blast! Seriously, do yourself a favor and book a tour.

We had the best time, Marissa took great care of us in the water and made my friends who had never had a snorkel on feel very comfortable. It was a cold day and she checked on each of us to make sure we were all doing well and not too cold, Captain Emerson got us to our spot quickly and safely.

Absolutely incredible experience! Staff was very generous with their time and took care to make sure we were comfortable during the trip (heaters on the boat, all gear, hot chocolate, etc.) o would definitely do this trip again and again.

I wanted to say how AMAZING the staff was. We originally booked the tour since we will be in town for the manatee festival. It was my aunts first time swimming with the manatees and mine and my husband's second time. Liz and Ryan were awesome! Liz was very helpful in the water and Ryan was very kind. Both went above and beyond for the tour! Ryan even had warm water to put down our wetsuits once we got back to the boat (air temp was in the 50s). We had hot chocolate on the way back. The staff even went more above and beyond by bringing me and my family back to where we parked for the festival since it was a tough walk for my grandmother. 15/10 would recommend this tour again and again. (Also I'm sorry for forgetting the person's name who drove us back. You were so sweet for taking us and I can't really express how much we loved the entire staff)

Captain Wade and Guide Trish were great! Kids are already asking when we can go back. Really neat experience.

Had a great time with captain and guide Luke and Bri on our manatee tour. The tour was entertaining, educational and exciting. Lots of beautiful manatees with great service made for a very enjoyable experience.

Fantastic experience. Marissa and Jayson did a great job. Highly recommend to anyone interested in manatees.

Worth the money, time and cold body lol! The top 3 most amazing experience I've had in my life, after swimming with sharms and pigs. John, Emerson, and the ladies up front were all fantastic.