Manatee Rescue

My mom, dad and I had no set plans for the day.  The weather was supposed to be in the 50s, so golf wasn't on the agenda.  We were planning on shopping on Friday, so that was out as well.  Yesterday, we spent most of the day working on projects around our home.  I had no desire to do that again.  Before I gave much thought to what we should do, a video popped up on my Facebook feed from a spring in Crystal River.  It showed hundreds of manatee swimming in their springs, enjoying the warm water on this chilly day.  After watching that, I suggested that we take a trip to Crystal River to check out the famed sea cow.

I had only been to Crystal River once.  That time I went to see the ancient mounds left by the indigenous people well over 2000 years ago.  It was fascinating, but today I was more interested in the manatee, especially since Cameron saw a couple on his kayak trip with Nick several weeks ago.  It took us about 45 minutes to get to the heart of Crystal River.  We enjoyed the scenic drive.  It reminded all of us of our trips to Arcadia when Granny and CrapPa lived there.  

Crystal River had several tourist shops and a lot of different places advertising ways to see the manatee.  Boat rides, snorkeling adventures and kayaking tours were all available.  Even if the weather had been nice, we weren't really interested in those.  We drove alongside the river looking for a beach or somewhere to see the manatee from the shore.  We stopped at a pier where my Dad talked to a local worker.  He told him about two different places to see the manatee.  The first was a beach with snorkelers.  We could tell there were shadows where the manatee were, but couldn't really see much.  We decided then to try Three Sisters Springs.  I knew from Facebook that there were manatee in the springs today, and the local that my dad talked to guaranteed us that we'd see them there.

The entrance building to Three Sisters Springs was housed in a shopping plaza.  We were a little hesitant about it all as it seemed like a lot of money to enter the springs.  We thought it over during our chili lunch at Wendy's and came to the conclusion - "Why not try it?"  We were already there and I'd finally be able to see the manatees in the wild.  It had been over thirty years since we saw them swimming by the power plants near Granny's.  

We caught the trolley bus and soon we were at the walkway around the springs.  We were absolutely impressed with the amount of manatee in the springs today.  With the gulf water temperatures at 58 degrees, the warm water of the springs was a haven for the sea cows.  The docents did a fantastic job telling us all about the life of a manatee.  We were all fascinated with the information and loved seeing them swim, eat and huddle together.  At one area they were so close together that it looked like someone could walk right across them in the water.

On the way over, our bus driver had let us know that there was a group from Zoo Tampa there today rescuing a manatee who was suffering from cold stress.  We found out later that it was a lot like frost bit on a human.  At first, I thought that wasn't any big deal.  I soon changed my mind.  Watching the amount of effort the rescuers put into getting the manatee corralled, netted, on the stretcher and into the truck for the zoo was absolutely amazing.  We were right next to the opening where the injured manatee was taken and could see the sores on her body from the cold stress.  We were so thankful that she was going to be helped and joined everyone clapping when they finally took her away.  In the end, I was very glad that I talked my mom and dad into going to Crystal River today.  We didn't know what our day would bring when we got up, but it definitely was a memorable one.