A manatee is basically a real life mermaid and my wife Shari has always wanted to see one. While its cold and miserable up north, the manatees have migrated south and it turns out it is manatee season, so we saddled up our kayak and hit Florida's springs on a quest to see a manatee!
We chose a place called 3 Sisters Spring on the Gulf Coast side of Central Florida. This is Shari the Manatee seeker. She's a real looker!
And the guy sitting on the front of the Kayak is me Ben, and I will be your guide on this vicarious journey to see rainbows and manatees!
We found a public boat ramp on Crystal River and paddled upstream about 30 minutes and found the spring! The name is called Three Sister's Spring which is likely a Christianization of "Hela's or Hecate's Spring" as perhaps the Spanish explorers though like the Mayans that the spring went down into Hela's domain in the underworld. The Mother-Maiden-Crone 3 in one goddess is a common pre-Christian concept all the world over and likely turned into 3-Sisters name, but I could be wrong. In any case this is the spot for prime manatee viewing so we were told.
This was first time to kayak with motor boats and fortunately there were idle speed signs to remind motorists to be careful as many manatees are injured by motor boat cuts with scars. I got both a rainbow and a pelican in this picture can you see them?
For those of you wondering what kind of kayak we are in, it is a 12 ft long Heritage brand "sit on top" type made for one person. So how is Shari in it? She sits in the back and fits and we have improvised this one person kayak for 2! We each have a paddle and can double row for speed or take turns so we never get tired or stranded. It wasn't long until we realize there are manatees everywhere! Thar she blows!
At the head of the spring it was roped off to boats and kayaks but swimming with the manatees is allowed, so we roped off and jumped in the water!
Shari looked real nervous when a giant bull manatee which seemed about the size of a great white shark approached her from the right and swam right underneath! Do you see the big dark spot in the water to her right!
After surviving the big manatees, we got back in the kayak and found an unexpected stowaway tree frog in the rod holder!
Next we paddled towards some fellow kayakers who were shouting to come over and look quick!
We knew we were heading in the right direction because of the rainbow!
BABY MANATEE!
So cute was nibbling on rope algae. Look at that cute little mermaid tail on the left!
It's a little hard to see but there were actually 3 manatees, 2 big one and the baby blowing bubbles on the right. Also you can see a paddle boarder in the background looking at even more manatees, they were everywhere!
What a beautiful day, you would never know this was in winter. Now I know why birds and manatees go south to Florida during this season. Look at those clouds! Wait what is that in the water? It's a radio-tail manatee with a floating tracker attached! Poor giant manatee is obviously the subject of some research study tracking its movements.
Don't worry, before we left, we made sure to drop off our little stowaway on the shore.
Thankyou for sharing our rainbow kayak adventure on crystal river! Please be sure to up vote and leave comments below.