ZERO DAY: SWIMMING WITH THE MANATEES

Manatees!
Although we were in crystal clear water swimming
with the manatees, quality photos were impossible.
Nan took this picture of a photo which pretty accurately
depicted our own experience swimming with the manatees.    

    Zero Day:  No riding.  Temperatures in the low 70's and sunny.  Nan and her best friend Marie once visited Florida together for a vacation.  When Nan returned home she insisted that she swam with the manatees.  However, Marie denied that Nan performed the swim and Marie's journal did not reflect Nan's version.  This dispute has been continual for several years; so Nan decided that she must swim with the manatees and properly document the trip.  That day finally arrived!  The only place to legally swim with the manatees is in Crystal River, Florida which was only an hour and 20 minutes from our location in Tarpon Springs.  We made a reservation with a dive company and off we went.

Our pontoon boat and dive captain.

    The journey with the manatees was a 3 hour event to don wet suites, boat to the location of the manatees and return.  At least an hour and a half was spent in the water.  The springs in the area pump out millions of gallons of water at a constant 72 degrees.  Manatees need water at least at 72 degrees to survive so in the winter they flock to the springs.  This time of year the manatees are everywhere.  Unfortunately, every possible dollar is being squeezed to take advantage of the manatees.  Many areas are forbidden from swimmers, kayaks and boats.  The areas that are open to the public are swarming with humanity.  We took a pontoon boat to an area full of manatees only to discover 20 other pontoon boats, flocks of kayakers and 50+ swimmers/snorkelers.  We joined the party by quietly entering the water with our snorkel gear.  The area was very shallow and jammed with humanity and manatees.  The manatees were actually behind a roped off area so we had to view them at a small distance.  The best way to observe the manatees was to be in the water as even from a distance you could see their massive size and body features.

    After swimming to a spring only open to swimmers we returned to the manatees to discover that they got hungry and left the roped off area to swim with the crowd.  What an experience!  They were all around us.  There was no touching but that didn't stop the manatees from running into you.  They seemed to come from everywhere and many times we found that we had to try to back peddle to avoid a crash.  The manatees tried to ignore all the surrounding activity as they went about their business slowing lumbering around the area in search of food.  We tried to be as respectful as possible, but with so many people in the area I felt a little bad for the manatees.

The isolated, private spring area.
Often manatees can be found here
but we only found schools of fish.

    Finally, as Nan got very close to the face of one massive manatee it looked directly at Nan and said "welcome back!"  Thus, unequivocally proving that Nan was right and Marie was wrong all along!  Perhaps Marie should now correct her journal.