Can somebody please help. What type of water (ie fresh, sea etc) is Crystal River in Florida? ?

Question

I'm allergic to sea water but I would like to swim with the manatees. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

Very fresh and also very "hard"

If my memopry serves, I believe this river got its name because of the clarity of the water. It was transparent enough that "glass bottomed" boats allowed visitors to clearly see schools of fish up to 30 feet below the boat as though no water were present at all.

The water was so clear because of Florida's geology. Florida is actually the flat surface of a great limestone formation formed from an ancient barrier reef. The limestone is porus like a sponge, and soaks up rainwater. This saturates the rock and the overflow erupts as springs. The water is absolutly pure, having been filtered by slowly flowing through solid rock. This perhaps gave rise to the legend of the "fountain of youth".

The Crystal river is fed by either one or more of these springs and manatees (which are related to elephants) require water no lower than 68 degrees to avoid hypothermia. They migrate between fresh and salt water to find the warmest spots during the year. Crystal river is salt free because of the limestone filtration, but it is as "hard" as seawater. It gets its hardness from the limestone. Indiana water is the same, but nowhere as pure.

Answer 2

for future reference remember that most rivers are fresh water.

Answer 3

fresh water