Swimming with the Manatees

Enjoyed my first beach outing this summer this week and the timing couldn't have been better. Florida wildlife decided to put on a show for us.

Checking out the manatees.

There we were resting on the beach at Fort DeSoto Park in Pinellas County, a favorite of ours for its white sugary sand and warm, calm Gulf water, when out of nowhere comes a pack of manatees heading east in the shallow waters. Not sure what they were seeing, some folks ran out of the water—a good instinct if you're on the Atlantic side, where there are sharks.

At first, we thought they were dolphins but the creatures didn't behave like dolphins, which like to jump out of the water.  These guys were large and rolling around in the water and for manatees they were traveling fast. They swam past us not once, not twice, but three times!

The manatees' flat tails.

A few of us tried to get as close as possible. But you have to be careful because the lumbering sea cows can weigh up to 1,200 pounds and extend to 10 feet long, according to Florida's Save the Manatee Club. One manatee brushed against my husband's hand. He said it felt hard and coarse. We noticed some scars on the skin of a few of the gray aquatic mammals, likely the result of run-ins with motor boats and jet skis, a major cause of manatee injuries and deaths. Manatees are considered an endangered and protected species, with only 3,800 remaining in the United States, according to Save the Manatee. 

Manatees migrate to the warm Florida waters in the winter months. I usually pay them a visit each January to March at the Canaveral National Seashore near the space center. It's unusual, but not unheard of, to see them at this time of year. The manatees seemed delighted to be there. They were playful and gentle, and they lingered a little longer in our stretch of water with each pass.

Long live the manatees!

My husband and I  had not been to the beach all summer long, compared with last year when we spent nearly each weekend exploring a new beach. But I guess you can say that in our case the Big Kahuna saved the best for last, demonstrating once again the beauty of Florida's fine beaches and its abundant wildlife.