Prior to moving to Tampa, I really wasn't aware of manatees. Sure, I saw them at an aquarium once. But living in the Northeast, manatees were not spoken about often. So I'm sure you can understand my surprise when I started to hear about excursions where you could swim with manatees or visit a manatee viewing center. So being the FunSized Frolicker that I am, I had to go exploring and see what these manatees were all about. So here's what I did... Let's talk swimming with manatees first! For this excursion, I booked it through TripShock , which is how I find a lot of my excursions, especially here in Florida! I did this with Crystal River Watersports which is a little over an hour north of Tampa. Prepare to get up bright and early for this excursion because the earlier you get up, the better chance you have to see the manatees. For this 3 hour tour, you are brought out to Kings Bay, where the local guides know the "hot spots" to find the manatees. Throughout t...