Swimming with the Manatee

And no, this has nothing to do with swimming when I was pregnant, really! We used to go spend an occasional Saturday down at a cool inlet on the east coast of Florida, taking along lunches and our camper and just totally unplugging from society. My husband and I loved it, and the kids were pretty sure that these days were the best they had ever spent. The cove was quite protected from the Atlantic surf, and gave us a safe and fairly shallow place for the kids to play.

One day, when we were all out swimming in the cove, a huge animal nose popped up between my husband and one of our boys, whiskers and all! The water was probably about five or six feet deep, and clear. No one panicked as we slowly gathered the kids together in one circle, not too far from the curious face that had surfaced along with the whiskered nose. VERY cool—we were being watched by a manatee! We just stayed still and watched it swim around us. It was kind of like appearing in the tank with one in Sea World, and we loved every minute of it.

The same thing happened on several occasions over the years, and we still talk about how much fun it was to swim with the manatee. We came home after that first visit and went to the library to learn all we could about manatees—lessons for a lifetime!

-Amanda