Story and photos by Mike Lang
Originally published in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Nov. 2007
As a photojournalist in Sarasota, Florida, I’ve covered numerous manatee rescues and releases. My wife, Mary, and our son, Sawyer, 7, both born and raised in Sarasota have never seen one up close in the wild. We’ve been lucky to see manatees occasionally from our boat, but it’s usually just a large, dark shape gliding beneath the surface or maybe a nose poking out of the water. During a recent camping trip to Chassohwitzka, we took a side trip to Crystal River to see if we could meet a manatee or two up-close.
We met our guide, at his shop on N. Citrus Ave. in downtown Crystal River, after an early breakfast at The Crystal Paradise restaurant directly across the street. We picked out our wetsuits and headed a few blocks away to Hunter Spring Park where he would meet us with the boat . We’ve been on vacations where tour operators cram as many people as possible onto a boat or bus. We try to avoid these type of operations whenever possible. Our guide, who has operated manatee tours for more than ten years, specialized in small groups. This was appealing and one of the reasons we chose him. In fact, the day of our trip, we had the boat to ourselves.
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| A young manatee stays close to its mother's side in Three Sisters Spring. |
We soon found out it really doesn’t matter how many people are in your boat – it’s how many people that are in the water with the manatees that really makes a difference. When we arrived at the first spot, there are already three large tour boats anchored up and several more rental boats arrived within the hour.
Our guide idled his pontoon boat out into King’s Bay and we began to see manatees in just a few minutes. I assumed we’d stop and swim with them but he kept idling across King’s Bay. Our destination was the famous Three Sisters Springs, a series of springs fifteen minutes away, bordered on one side by a residential canal and private, undeveloped land on the other. On the way, he told us what we might expect once we entered the water and explained the rules of swimming with manatees. He made sure to remind us that the manatee was in charge of the encounter. It must initiate any contact and we must not chase them. (see rules below)
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| Manatees rest after traveling to King's Bay in Crystal River. |
Crystal River is an important winter habitat for Our guide must have seen the look on my face as I slipped into the 72-degree water. “You’ll warm up faster if you flood that wetsuit”, he suggested as he looked down from the dry deck of the boat. Reluctantly, I slipped my hand into the collar and pulled it away from my neck, allowing water to flood my wetsuit. Yikes! The water was a lot colder than I expected. But he was right, I warmed up quickly and soon was ready to get a closer look at the large, dark figures just a few dozen yards away in the crystal clear water.
It was difficult to resist the temptation to stand in the five-foot deep crystal-clear, spring water, but doing so would only churn up sediment and make viewing and photographing the manatees more difficult for everyone. In the distance, I could see three large manatees with their noses pressed into the seagrass. Their only movement was to occasionally rise for a breath of air, then sink back down. He explained that several of these manatees had just arrived in King’s Bay and were resting from their travels. We left them alone. It wasn’t long before several other manatee were curious enough to come investigate the new visitors, including a “small” manatee that followed my wife and son for a short time and circled around later for another visit.
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| Sawyer was able to touch a young manatee that came close to investigate . |
We ventured up the spring run to Three Sisters Springs, an area off limits to powerboats. The beautiful lagoon-like setting was worth the effort it took to swim against the strong current coming out of the springs.
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| Three Sisters Springs is a manatee sanctuary. |
Our visit with the manatees there was quiet and peaceful until several families arrived in rented pontoon boats. We had been careful to move quietly and slowly through the water. The rental crowd was loud - making lots of noise and commotion in the water. Several boys climbed up a palm tree overhanging the spring and jumped in, each making a big splash. It was a good time to leave.
We climbed back into the boat and moved to a second location nearby. Magnolia Springs was in much deeper water and it was a bit cloudier than Three Sisters Springs. Almost immediately, a manatee appeared and started playing with the anchor line.
Once in the water, another seemed to materialize out of the murky water and came over to investigate me. I tried to back up enough to get a photo of this large manatee with a wide-angle lens but it kept coming closer. After a few close-ups, I reached out and touched it on the back. To my surprise, it rolled over like a dog that wants you to scratch its’ stomach. After a couple of barrel rolls, it swam off to join another manatee. With that, it was time for us to leave too. What a great day!
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