Our next adventure was a trip to Crystal Springs, which is home to one of the largest manatee populations...and people are allowed to swim with them! (While this seems like a case of poor judgment on behalf of the National Parks Service or whoever is in charge, manatees are second only to dolphins in the eyes of my kids, and we were certainly going to take advantage of this situation while the law still permits us to do so). We were up and at 'em bright and early in order to catch our boat ride to the manatees.
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| Diver Megan, ready for action |
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| She ain't bad looking in a wetsuit, is she? |
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| All suited up with Grandma Dee |
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| Mom & Megan in the water, manatee hunting |
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| This is the guy we were after, but we never did connect with him in the water |
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| We enjoyed watching him from the boat and moved on to the next area... |
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| Where this happened! That is a playful baby manatee under the water. My leg is just to the right of him. |
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| He kept surfacing to give kisses. I am the on the far right. The kissy-faced manatee is just left of me. |
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| That's his little baby face. Are they not the cutest things? |
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Megan is the terrified looking swimmer on the far right. She did enter the water, the manatee did come find her, and she did live to tell the tale.
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The trip's success definitely varied by swimmer. My experience was unforgettable. We only had a close encounter with one manatee, but I think I got about 25 hugs (he literally wraps his front flippers around your legs)...and I believe he may have also stolen my [borrowed] underwater camera. No hard feelings. I couldn't be prouder of Megan for going in the water. It was really, really hard to see and a little scary swimming with these giant animals, no mater how sweet their demeanor may be. Hannah couldn't quite conquer her fear of swimming in the murky water with animals ten times her size (go figure), and Grandma Dee has always been more of a land lubber.
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