Today is the day for our celebration with Reva who said for her 60th birthday she wanted to swim with the manatees. So, a very happy 60th birthday to Reva!
We arrived at the Fun2Dive home base at 7:45 a.m. and got checked in. JoAnn had signed us up for a VIP manatee swim tour, so it was going to be just the 6-pack. With Pat and Eve not able to come due to Eve’s illness, we were fortunate that we still were able to go out on the boat as just the 4-pack. We had to start with a short video about what is prohibited in seeing and being with manatees. It was quite informative with lots of don’ts, but it was so fun seeing all the manatees in the video. We were advised by our guide, D.J., that due to the unusually warm weather in Florida, there were not as many manatees around as usual. That’s because the manatees come to the Kings Bay region in search of the warm spring-fed rivers in winter. Since it has been so warm in the gulf, there hasn’t been as much need for the manatees to seek out the warm water. So we hoped for the best that we would even see one today.
Brian was our boat captain, D.J. our guide, and the two guys kept us entertained. We first went to the Three Sisters Springs. We were aware that there were no manatees there. All the many, many manatee tours keep in communication and they share manatee sightings. But D.J. told us that the Three Sisters Springs was on the list of the 1,000 Places You Must Visit so we did want to see it. We all were decked out in wet suits, masks and snorkels, but no flippers. We used noodles around our bodies to keep us buoyant and so we didn’t really need flippers. We sort of dog-paddled our way along.
The springs were entered through a long shallow channel and then the 3 springs bowled out in 3 sections. The water was wonderfully clear and not very deep. The sandy bottom reflected the light giving the appearance of an even lighter environment. On the bottom, you could see round areas in the sand where the spring water was bubbling out. It was cool to see and these round sandy areas looked alive. The Kings Bay area is entirely spring fed and just from the Three Sisters, millions of gallons of fresh water flow out of the springs each day. It was pretty impressive to hear about that.
We then got back on the boat and headed out into the Kings Bay in search of manatees. After about 30 minutes of checking in some of the tributaries, and hearing from other boats that there weren’t any manatees, we all got a little disillusioned. That might be except for Christine, who just loved being on the boat and didn’t really want to swim with the manatees anyway.
After a while we noticed a couple of other boats in an area called the flats with their swimmers all huddled together in the water. That was a sure sign there was a manatee. We waited a bit for a large group to go back to their boat and the 4 of us went into the water with D.J. He said very quickly, “there’s a manatee right under us.” This area was incredibly murky and it was difficult to see even a foot down below you. D.J. said the manatee was coming up to breathe and we all then became aware of this huge thing coming up from below us. It was so startling because it was so huge. This one was 8-10 feet long and very fat around. In the murky water, all we could really see was a hazy shape, but as it came up from below, we were aware that we were going to be touched by the manatee because we literally were right above it. One of the prohibitions is touching a manatee and so we all were quite panicky about what to do because the thing was going to touch us. Jo got the most touched because of her position and she had to place her hands on the manatee’s back to keep it from bumping into her face. After that, Jo backed away. Christine had decided to go back to the boat when the manatee started surfacing, but then she came back to our little group to try and see it. It was really unnerving because the murky water prevented clear views and so we didn’t really know what to expect or where the manatee would surface.
The manatee was eating grass on the bottom. The water was only about 8 feet deep and we just floated over the huge shape. Every 3-4 minutes, the manatee would rise so that it could lift its nose out of the water to breathe. It would first exhale, kind of like a whale blowing out through its blow hole, and then would take a deep inhalation and go back down to feed more. It was really exciting to be so close when it came up for air.
After that experience, we were all pretty pleased, even if the water was so murky. I wished, for Reva’s sake, that we had seen lots of them, but at least we all can say that we swam with a manatee.
Brian and D.J. said we had some more time, so we headed to another spring, this one called Jurassic Spring. I think it’s called that because there is a very deep crevice from where the spring water comes up. D.J. asked us if we wanted to swim in the spring. Jo didn’t want to and the rest of us almost said no, but we then did decide to see the spring. As Christine, Reva and I were swimming over to the entrance to the spring, D.J. popped up his head and said there’s a manatee, a surprise to all of us. Being in the spring area, the water was much clearer and we were able to see the manatee perfectly. This one was much smaller, probably 6-7 feet long. It was resting and what was so funny was that it looked like it was face down in the sand, literally. But then it came up for a breath and started to move a bit. It was thrilling to see it so clearly.
We were floating just a foot or two away from this manatee. She wasn’t at all bothered by us. D.J. said they are very gentle creatures as long as they are observed passively.
This was the experience we all wanted Reva to have for her birthday, and this last few minutes here in this spring with this manatee were absolutely perfect.
All the manatee pictures were taken by our guide D.J. That was part of the VIP tour, and he certainly knew how to best position himself for these really great pictures. So it was a very memorable birthday for Reva and we all were thrilled. And we’re very sorry that Eve had to miss the experience due to her illness.
After the manatee swim, we headed back to the house for lunch and then headed out to Rainbow Springs State Park to go see the headsprings of the Rainbow River. It’s a beautiful park that is on the site of a former tourist attraction that highlighted all things river oriented. That attraction closed in the 1970s and the state eventually purchased the land and it became a state park. We had a nice walk through the main part of the headsprings area and then took a nature trail through a couple of different ecosystems. It was a nice walk, although it started to rain at the end and by the time we got back to the car we were soaked.
We saw many lovely flowering shrubs. The flowers are so colorful.
We returned home to dry out. We did a load of laundry and hung out for a while. Then guess where we went to dinner? Yes, Swampy’s! We walked over to the restaurant and had a nice dinner. Back at the house, we hung out again and eventually headed to bed.
Tomorrow we’re heading to St. Petersburg to visit the famous glass artist Dale Chihuly’s exhibit at the Morean Art Center. That should be great. The gallery is new and was apparently constructed specifically to display some of Chihuly’s work. Can’t wait.
What a great day this must have been for you! I’m so glad that you got to see at least one manatee clearly – thanks for the great pictures.