sea cows

I was at the county dock chilling and i thought i saw a glimpse of the top of something coming out of the water. Manatees?? I had seen one once before so i rushed down the boardwalk and lo and behold i found 3 manatees floating lazily around. I stayed for about 15 minutes and took video.

If you'd like to see these "sea cows" the video is below. If you watch to the end you will hear me trying to talk to them (always the communicator!), and you also get to see me frantically trying and succeeding at putting my hand through the water and rubbing the back of one! Simple things amuse me...

They are really bizarre to see in person. They are startlingly big, and they move with quiet, gentle motion. I had to tell two people walking down the boardwalk that they were there. They would have walked right by.

There is a big effort in Florida to limit the speed of boats in manatee zones, because a lot of them get injured and killed. You can see scars on their backs in the video.

If you're in for a laugh, watch this video of the Dr. Katz show. About 30 seconds in it starts talking about the manatee. lol