The Manatees of Three Sisters

It's cool weather in Florida, which means the manatees are swimming up the creeks to find warmer water. Three Sisters Springs in Crystal River has a lot of them now, so we drove Chris and Milt over there. Along the way we stopped at a roadside stand that looked good. They had Honeybells, which is my favorite citrus. These were full of juice and fairly sweet; they could be better but they were good enough that I got some. Randy liked the Red Oranges and Chris went for the Plant City strawberries. 

Then we drove onto see the manatees. Today they estimated there were 200 in the springs! I actually think there were more than that; in some places they were packed in like sardines. 

When we arrived, there were between 40 and 50 manatees in the large, shallow pool that connected to the river by a small canal. Here they lay almost motionless on the bottom. When manatees are at rest, they tuck their head down, so they look just like big underwater rocks. Manatees can hold their breath up to 20 minutes, although they generally come up for a breath every 3 to 5 minutes. When they want to take a breath, they just slowly rise from the lake bed with no discernible effort, like a slow-moving balloon, and break the surface with their nose. And they almost immediately sink back down; it doesn't take them long at all to get a deep breath.  These critter have amazing buoyancy control!

They look like they have a big layer of fat, but the docents said they don't. Their internal organs are large enough to fill those fat-looking bodies. 

There were a lot of calves here today. Calves stay with their mom for 2 years, and everyone we saw stayed right next to its mama.

While we were there the tide was going out, which caused the manatees in the large pool to head towards the rivers edge. They didn't rush over, of course; I don't know what it would take to make a manatee rush. But as they felt the water's pull, a few at a time moved along the small canal to reach the big group in the river.

This whole area is so peaceful. In a field nearby were a pair of Sandhill Cranes. These birds mate for life, so we usually see two of them together. 

Eventually we had to leave, but before we went home we went to Crackers Bar and Grill for a light lunch. To our delight, they had oysters! 

One of the perks of eating here is watching the show when the fishing boats come in. When they show up, the pelicans come flying in from all around! They know the fishing guides dress the fish they caught and throw the scraps out to the birds. 

One bird gets to stand on the nearest pier, and the guide shows off his aim by tossing scraps directly at it. This is where I leaned how flexible those webby feet are.