MANATEE SIGHTING

                                  HOMOSASSA SPRINGS WILDLIFE STATE PARK

After we dropped the kids off at the Miami Airport, we started to make our way up North the next day.  We found a campsite a little North of Tampa.  I ask the lady at the office, if you could only see one thing in the area, what would it be.  They named several things, a wild animal park, Disney World.  Something totally Florida.  The one lady mentioned about 30 or so miles up the road was some hot springs.  And since the weather had been unusually cold the manatees would be in.  I have never seen a manatee except on tv, I was hooked.  And since it wasn't too far out of our way, Vern said yes.  The water temperature is right around 72 degrees around the springs and since they cannot handle cold, they congregate in the warmer water.  I love manatees.  They are so gentle and friendly.  They don't have any natural predators, just man and boat motors.  They have been around for thousands of years.

 

This is where the actually springs are.  The hole is over 50 feet deep.  They have an underwater observatory.  And you can watch thousands of fish, big and small swimming around.  The manatee ia a herbivore and eats about half of it's weight in sea grass and greens each day so they won't bother the fish.

 

The fish like the warm water too!

 

They have a large tail which is used to navigate.  It looks so effortless when they swim.  I took some video of them.  But, then again, I can't seem to transfer them to the blog. : (  They have good hearing, but can't tell from what direction the sound is coming from.  Hence, tangling with propellers is a problem.