In 2011 I went down to FL to visit my grandmother and sister, Ashely, for Christmas. I had visited the year before for Christmas but we didn’t do anything other than go to the beach. So, of course I thought it would be fun to do something new. I love animals. We were in florida: dolphins! In the process of doing a web search for places that allow you to swim with dolphins, I came across the option to swim with manatees! I’d never heard of people going to swim with manatees so I chose that option. I called a few places and decided that Crystal River was the best option. The tickets were expensive. If I remember correctly they may have been about $75 apiece. We were warned on the phone that the manatees are not in captivity and there was no guarantee that we would get to swim with them.
We arrived at the visitor’s center for the first tour of the day. They have a small gift shop area with lots of cute manatee souvenirs. To start the tour off, the group watched a video that basically said: 1. manatees are endangered so you can’t touch them and 2. you can touch them if they initiate contact 3. here is the body language that would encourage a manatee to come to you and 4. the generic “do not feed the animals”. We went to the changing rooms and got into our water clothes and wet suits. It was December, and even Florida has a chill in the winter (it gets down to 60 degrees). Then the bus drove us down the road to the docks. When we got to the docks, we were told that the tour would be delayed. There was a manatee rescue going on and our tour guide was helping out. A mother cow had gotten hurt bye boat propellers. Her (little) baby weighed about 800 lbs.
After the two were sent on their way, we all loaded into the boat. It was a little shaky but nobody fell overboard.
We got into the water three times. And that doesn’t sound like much but we were out all morning, past noon. The first time we went into some waterways that went into a neighborhood. In Crystal River there is a neighborhood set in the water, like Venice Italy. The houses are on land, but the edge is bricked down into and under water. They were really nice houses, quite a few of them had boats and docks and some had bridges. This was were the manatees spent part of their time. We went slowly, looking for the manatees as we went. There was a small dark bump raising above the water and our guide yelled “there is one!”. We stopped the boat, put on our snorkeling gear and the guide went over the rules as we all got into the water. It was about 60 degrees out, and while I’ve had colder diving experiences (47 degrees?), I strongly prefer warmer water. Speaking of water, this water was really murky. There was only a few feet of visibility with our face masks on. But the manatees came over and let us pet them! Their skin was really rough. According to evolutionists, the manatee is related to the elephant. I don’t believe in macro-evolution, but I have ridden an elephant before so I can see how they came to this particular conclusion. Manatee skin is the same color and the texture is similar to that of elephant skin. Elephants, however, do not have moss and barnacles growing on them, but that didn’t make petting the manatees less of an experience.
Our second dip in the water was more pleasant. We stopped the boat in an area were there were alot of people swimming and on jet skis. We were at the edge of the Venice styled neighborhood. The water here was crystal clear and it was warmer. Our guide told us we were going to snorkel to the Three Sister’s Spring. But first we “danced” with some manatees. Some of them were sleeping on the bottom of this shallow area. They kind of looked like torpedoes laying on the sandy bottom. At least I think they were sleeping. There were quite a few manatees in this place. I was surprised that they weren’t as shy as the first group we encountered. They didn’t seem to mind sharing their space with loud, rambunctious human children.
To get to the Three Sister’s Spring we had to swim through some big parking lot-ish bars. I think they are meant to keep boats out. We were led up the creek into a pond-like clearing which is often mistaken for the spring. But its not the spring, so we found the creek that flowed into this “pond” and followed it until we got to the Three Sisters spring. The water was beautiful and there were fish swimming around. Fish look different when you’re in the water than when you look down at them from above or through glass at aquariums. The 3D feel is completely different and so much more lifelike. And we got to see were fish spend alot of their time, a glimpse into their world: under the river bank. We normally stand at the edge of the water and watch the fish disappear. They can do that because the tree roots form a ceiling and a maze for them to swim under and in. That was the best part of snorkeling in the Three Sister’s Spring. It was also fun to swim over to the deep part were it was a darker blue and try to dive down to the bottom. There was a fallen tree underwater that made for some good pictures. When we swam back we were given some time to socialize with the manatees. One of the babies swam up to me and kissed my face! He swam up slowly and put his wiskered “little” face in between my eyes and nose. I didn’t feel much because I was wearing a face mask over my eyes, but its still a special memory to me.
While snorkeling around I saw a large percentage of manatees that had a pattern of scars on their back . Manatees are slow, They can’t really turn their heads, nor can they turn their bodies easily. They have very low maneuverability, like a submarine. This makes it very easy for a boat to run over one and cause serious damage. Like the pair that we saw at the beginning of the tour. This is a problem that contributes to the manatee’s position on the endangered species list. Another problem is trash, pipes and tossed fishing line. Manatees are curious. They get stuck in pipes, they eat stuff they shouldn’t, and they get wound up in old fishing lines. If they get caught in fishing lines, the lines act like a rope on a tree. The lines tighten, cut through the skin and go deeper and deeper. Manatees found like this will often need surgery to have the lines removed and sometimes they loose limbs, Manatees don’t have to worry about predators, they have no natural predators. Their meat does not taste good. Another problem that contributes to their low numbers is that they are very temperature sensitive. When it gets too cold they go into shock and just stop moving. The cold can and does kill them. They are lucky that there are so many people who care about them. But more people need to be aware of how their actions (like tossing fishing line overboard) hurts these gentle giants.
It wasn’t hard to figure out that our guide was married without children. He talked about manatees, his wife, manatees, some of his life, manatees. And when ever he spoke about manatees, he spoke of them with a depth of affection that very few people ever display (unless speaking about their children). It was easy to see that these creatures were more than a job to him, but the love of his life as well. This was a man who chose to work a low paying job, giving tours, because he truly loved and cared for these animals.
On our way to the last official stop, we drove bye a manatee sanctuary. It is a “manatee only” area that is roped off. The only people allowed to drive their boats in that area are the people who live there. The manatees know that they’ll be left alone there. We saw more manatees in there than any other place. Most of them were sleeping but a few were going in and out. Our guide got in the water and tried to entice one to come over, but the manatee was having none that.
Before our last stop, the guide pulled out hot cocoa. It was water based but after getting in and out of sub 60 degree water for a few hours, it didn’t matter. That November I had taken advanced scuba diving and one of our out dives was in 47 degree water for 45 min. That was just the first dive on that particular day. So I often say “I’ve done my time in cold water”. Having said that, I skipped out on the last dance with the manatees. But not Ashley. I honestly think she enjoyed the trip more than I did (and I’m the big animal lover of the two!). She had never been snorkeling before, and of course the addition of some adorable manatees made it even better.
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I was really glad that Ashley got to go snorkeling for the first time, and that we both got to swim with manatees. It was a cold, but good day. Not to mention a really fun and interactive way to learn about an endangered specie. And to top it off, we stopped bye Down Town Disney on our way home to say “hi” to an old friend of mine from my Disney Collage Program days.
kreature of travel 