THURSDAY DECEMBER 31ST NEW YEAR’S EVE DAY

Awake at 4:15 so we have time to eat a hot breakfast at the Dennys connected to out hotel. Even with wearing a wetsuit, we know it will be cold in the water. We arrived at Bird’s Underwater Adventure by 6 a.m. The manatees are most active when they first wake up and leave to go out to feed. Along with many others we were outfitted with wetsuit and snorkeling gear. We all watched a video about the manatees and the laws protecting them. There are large sanctuary areas roped off for the manatees and protected by federal law. After about a 20 minute pontoon ride we arrived at the King’s Bay hot springs. It was just beginning to get light out making it difficult to see much in the water. After about 45 minutes and only sighting one manatee just as it was returning to the sanctuary area, we were feeling very disappointed. The tour was set up for one hour in the water. The sun was now up making the water clear to see in. Suddenly there were manatees everywhere you looked. They were beginning to wake up and leave the sanctuary to go and feed. But first stopping to greet their adoring fans and get their tummies rubbed and have us scratch under their flippers. Here Krista is giving her new friend a friendly flipper itching. The skin on their bellies is very soft and smooth. The rest of their skin feels like wet leather. Some of it is rough where what looks like lichen grows. Others feel slimy and are covered with brown moss growing on them. Their faces, back and tails are covered with short bristly hair.

Manatees are mammals, so must surface for air every 3-5 minutes. During sleep they can go for as long as 20 minutes without surfacing. They sleep lying on the bottom and just float to the top, take a breath and sink back to the bottom without even waking up. They average between 10 to 12 feet long and weigh between 800 to 1200 pounds. Their closest relative is the elephant and they have no natural enemies other than man. Manatees are believed to live 60 years or longer. They are intelligent like dolphins. Although they have excellent hearing, they have very poor eyesight. Some of the manatees would swim less than a foot away from our faces to look at us. Their eyelids close in a circular manner, like a shutter on the camera.






Their flippers each have several nails on them.




There were so many manatees that at one point Krista was surrounded and being herded back along with them into the sanctuary.


Me, face to face with a manatee. Both of us no doubt thinking what an odd looking creature the other was.



Much to our great pleasure, the tour didn’t end after an hour. We ended up staying for two hours in the water. The cold was what finally drove us back to the pontoon.

After a hot shower and a nap back at the hotel, we checked out and headed back to the Tampa airport to pick up Ross. Once we had Ross we drove to St. Petersburg and the Oddysea. The past three weeks she’s been out of the water while the swim platform was reinforced. The swim platform had what Ross referred to as jungle rot. Since it supports the weight of the dinghy and the outboard we thought it best to repair it rather than wait for it to rip off. (which would sink us)

My sister, Jennie, lives in St. Petersburg and invited us to spend New Year’s Eve at her house. After a fabulous meal of crab legs we managed to stay awake long enough to ring in the new year.