Hundreds of West Indian manatees packed into warm spring vents, and the only place in the United States where you can legally…Hundreds of West Indian manatees packed into warm spring vents, and the only place in the United States where you can legally get in the water with them. They are enormous, slow, whiskered and entirely unbothered; calves sometimes approach. In a cold week the springs hold 500+ animals. Florida manatees were down to a few hundred animals when protections began in the 1970s; the population has recovered to several thousand, though a catastrophic seagrass die-off in the Indian River Lagoon caused mass starvation deaths from 2021. Crystal River's springs are the species' most important winter refuge, and the passive-observation rules here are the tightest wildlife-interaction laws in America. Anchorage: Kings Bay marinas; shallow water and manatee speed zones throughout. Hazards: Strict passive-observation law, no chasing, no touching a manatee that has not approached you. Fines are real. Altro