We took a trip to Florida to visit with my grandparents and decided to turn the trip into a mini-vacation and swim with the manatees in Crystal River.
At first Connor was scared that he was going to drown and wanted back on the boat. Bo finally got him calmed down and showed him how to use his snorkel and it was easy peasy from there. Our first stop was the natural spring. It was crystal clear and the most beautiful site I've ever seen! You could see air bubbles rising from where the spring was fed, several fish, and a natural area where a tree had fallen in (see picture above), but no manatees. Apparently, we came at the wrong time of year. Our guide told us that there are usually anywhere from 25-100 manatees in the warm spring between December and February. The weather warmed up early this year, so they migrated early.
So, we hopped back on the boat where we were taken to a channel. The water was murky and hard to see anything until all. We were all looking so hard through the dirty water, hoping to see a glimpse of a manatee. Then, it seemed, out of no where there was a manatee directly underneath us! I was impressed at his size. It was as big as my car!! He swam so gracefully for being so large. I watched the end of his tail gliding away from me when the guide yelled "there's another one headed straight for you!". Our heads went straight down into the water again and sure enough, there was another one within arms length. The coolest site ever!
Although, we did not get to swim around in circles with them like the pictures show on the touring websites, we did get to see some very amazing things. It has sparked our interest in snorkeling and we are planning on incorporating snorkeling into our summer vacation this year.
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