CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. — Nov. 15 marks the official start of manatee season.
It’s the time of year when the water starts to cool off and the manatees start to congregate.
It’s also a time of big business in areas like Crystal River, where manatee tours have become an eco-tourism favorite.
“It's going to be a huge, huge help,” Vickie Hall with River Ventures in Crystal River said.
Hall says her business and many others took a beating from recent hurricanes and is glad to welcome manatee season along with the tourists who flock here each year to see the sea cows congregate.
“There's probably 80 or so tour companies just in Crystal River alone,” Hall said. “Not to mention the ones in Homosassa. And it's huge for this industry.”
The sea cows are cash cows in areas like Crystal River since it’s one of the few places in the world where humans can interact with manatees.
It's estimated to have a $20-$30 million impact on the local economy each year.
People who organize manatee sightseeing tours say visitors come from all over the world for the unique experience — tens of thousands of visitors each year — supporting the local economy.
Visitors who were out in the water with the sea cows on the first day of their season use words like “magical” and “incredible”.
“Warm spot in my heart for them. They're just so big and you want to just reach out and touch them and hug them. Cuddle, they look like they would be just so cuddly. But, you know, they're wild animals,” said Misty Woods, who was spending her birthday on a manatee tour.
“It was just the neatest experience. They're huge. They're gentle. Very unique,” Laney Martin said. “It's just amazing.”
The manatees will congregate in natural areas like the 72-degree spring waters around Crystal River.
But they can also be spotted, sometimes in large numbers, huddled in the warm water discharge areas from power plants, like the TECO Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach.
The facility is free to the public and open seven days a week from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.
“A lot of the world and tourists coming to this area think that Crystal River is shut down,” Hall said. “And I'm happy to say that we are up and running and strong.”
As efforts continue to save the manatee, the latest numbers from FWC show as of mid-November there had been 497 deaths recorded so far this year in Florida, 86 of those by watercraft.
While that number is still high, it’s down significantly from a peak of 882 deaths three years ago when several manatees were dying from starvation due to a lack of seagrass in Florida estuaries.
Manatee season runs from Nov. 15 through March 31.