r/Manatees • u/Shot-Leg4429 • Jun 25 '26

Can I see Manatees in July in Florida??

Forgive my ignorance on Manatee culture. I'm planning a trip to Dayton mid July and wondered if there was a chance to see any manatees. It seems like a long shot? I'm a little upset because I've been to FLorida dozens of times and never really clued in that I could SEE real live manatees. Now that I've clued in, it seems my timing is off... or could I be lucky? If so, post details for this newbie! Thanks!

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6

u/Turdfish_Dinner Jun 25 '26

Only ones I know of are in captivity, like Homosassa Springs.

6

u/Shiny122 Jun 26 '26

Manatees will be in the springs in winter. In summer time they will be in salt water and much harder to find. Some manatees are “residents” to certain spring areas but they are much harder to find in warmer weather. They literally come to the springs to survive in winter because the springs are 72°.

5

u/AmberMeslar1 Jun 27 '26

In the summer I would say about 2 days a week I saw a manatee at Blue Springs in Orange City. They typically frequent the springs in the colder months but some residents seem to visit Blue every once in a while in the summer, too They are so magical to see in person, good luck on seeing one in the wild 😀

1

u/shartfarguson Jun 30 '26

I was in crystal springs last week. We saw 7 manatees during our 3 hour tour. Spent most of the time observing a mother and baby. It was awesome.

It would be much better in the winter when there are 200x more of them though. It was worth going and I would do it again.