Family Vacation part 2 - Manatees

For our first night in Homosassa, Mike and Ellie were resting in the hotel room as Melissa and I ran around exploring with the kids.  We were told there was a great seafood place off the beaten path, where the locals eat.   Sounded great.    There were two roads that lead to the gulf from where we were.   The first one we already ventured down to get to the beach where I took the picture of Sarah holding the sun.   It was about 8 miles long and very curvy.   We were surprised how long and curvy it was and thought it was a one of a kind!   Were we going to be surprised.   So, to get to this great local eatery, you had to venture down a 10 mile SUPER curvy road with water on both sides of you!   I've been on some mountain passes that are switchbacks and white knuckle drives.   They can't compare to this road!    On our way out I made mention of feeling like I was starring in a new version of  Deliverance.   I anticipated hearing "Dueling Banjos" twanging away from the side of the road.    Literally 10 miles (and three sets of tires) later we arrived at this quaint fish restaurant.   It seemed very busy for something that was so difficult to get to.   We were seated and surprised at the menu selections!   There were some great choices (well, unless your Melissa S who has a discriminating pallet).   You should not before watching this video that we hadn't really slept since leaving Michigan the day before!

Ryan tried a bunch of new foods that were included in my "fisherman's platter".   It was delicious and a very good value!   It had shrimp, fish, scallops, clams, (something else I am forgetting) and hush puppies.  Wonderful thick cut fresh cole slaw, too.   Outside of the restaurant was a holding tank for the seafood.   It had the sound of trickling water and definitely smelled fishy.   You know everything you ate was freshly prepared.   What a great meal and a fun memory.

After our meal we headed back to the hotel room and took some dinner for Mike and Ellie.   There was plenty of leftovers from our meal; thankfully neither of them minded eating our seconds.

On Monday we slept in a bit (I was awake around 7 and tried to go back to sleep).   Our plans were for Mike and I to take the kids to swim with the manatees.    We headed off to River Ventures for our 9am adventure.

This group of photos were all taken by Sarah.   For Christmas she wanted a camera.   It turns out she is quite the photographer!

This time of year there are hundreds of Manatees in Crystal River.   The gulf of Mexico gets cold and the manatees retreat to the springs of the river which are a constant 72 degrees.

The river being warmer is a sanctuary for the manatees.  There are literally roped off areas which humans are prohibited to enter.   This is the only place in the world it is legal to interact with the manatees.   You cannot approach them or disturb them when they are asleep.   You have permission to swim on the surface with your snorkel, not to dive or pursuit one in any way.   If a manatee swims up to you, you can reach out with "one hand" and touch or scratch it.  You are threatened with state and federal fines, up to $100,000 and several years in jail if you break the rules, so the tour company and our Captain made sure we knew very well what the guidelines were ahead of time.

The first stop on the river only Sarah and Ryan saw a manatee.   It seemed to me we were not to see them which made me very disappointed as swimming with manatees was on my bucket list.   Captain Larry loaded us back onto the boat and took us further upstream.

Upon arrival at the second stop I was absolutely flabbergasted to see there were literally hundreds of manatees hanging out taking naps.   When we got off the boat it only took a few minutes of calmly floating on the surface to have them approach you.   It turns out manatees really like to chew on the anchor rope.   The captain said he thinks it feels like teething for a baby and may help floss their teeth.   The rope was a magnet for manatees!    They were lined up along the rope waiting for a turn to chew.

I floated along (as did Mike and the kids) enjoying the HUGE gentle creatures in the water with us.  I knew they were big, I had no idea just how big they were.   Some of the biggest bulls were as huge as a VW bug.   I was amazed at their grace and gentleness as one of them swam from behind me and up underneath me, bumping my belly as if to say hello.   There were so many of them that our group each had a private turn with a manatee.  Sarah had a baby who took a liking to her.   This "baby" was still bigger than me, and had the wiskers of an old man.   Their skin is like leather, thick yet soft.   When they first come up river from the gulf they have barnacles and algae on them.   Once the fresh water takes hold, the barnacles fall off and the algae is eaten away by symbiotic fish.   This is how you can tell if they are new arrivals or have been hanging out in the warm spring water for a few days.

Captain Larry has an underwater camera on the trip and River Ventures makes available for purchase the photos he takes.   Here are some of the photos Larry took.

Our tour group consisted of our family and this nice couple and their boys from the East side of MI.   The Dad and young son stayed on the boat while Mom and older boy swam with us.

Yummy rope

Ryan and Sarah

This was the baby manatee who hung out by the kids.   It wanted it "armpit" scratched and would have stayed here as long as you were willing to scratch.

The baby who liked the kids

Sarah told me I would be in trouble if I posted this pic of her "spread Eagle" online, so here it is!  ;-)

The roped off area left rear was LITERALLY overflowing with Manatees resulting in them sleeping in the area directly outside the rope.

A recent arrival from the gulf still has algae on its skin.

One of the springs bubbling up in the bottom of the "bay" area.   Captain Larry took us down a narrow passage where only one manatee hung out.   This area was too treacherous and shallow for most manatees.   In the photo three down you can read about CeeCee and his story and why he would hang out back in the bay area. 

This photo shows remnants of poles inserted in the spring bay area which used to be a manmade fence.  The fence was built by Jaques Costeau and his staff.  It used to keep manatees in the bay springs area where the humans rehabbed sick or injured animals.  

The three of us back in the springs bay area where CeeCee and the man made fence were.  Ryan and Emma were too cold by this point in the trip and decided to stay on the boat and play with the other boys in our party.   The "Dad from Detroit" agreed to supervise the kids which allowed us to swim off and explore with Captain Larry.

This is CeeCee (a boy) who was injured as a juvenile and rehabbed at Sea World.   He hung out with the dolphins during his rehab time and now exhibits dolphin like behavior now that he is released.   He is fitted with a tracking device which sends GPS signals to the folks who track his movements.   It is illegal to interact at all with CeeCee, disturb him in any way, or interfere in his "natural behavior".  No petting, no swimming up to, no interactions at all due to the tracking device.   He was a very handsome boy who appeared to want "us humans" around him.

This trip was awesome!   They give you 3 hours to hang out and swim with the manatees.   It was worth every penny and was an amazingly memorable experience for all of us.   It was a great way to start our trip and now I can offically cross it off my bucket list.