Manatee Madness

Today our playgroup had a meet-up at the Manatee Viewing Center. I had been last year, but apparently my timing wasn't great and although I had seen a few manatees in the distance, I did not have the opportunity to see lots of them, nor did I get to see them up close. Today was much different. Apparently the cooler weather made for the perfect conditions for manatee viewing. There must have been at least a hundred of them, just playing around and relaxing in the water. Some were quite close to the viewing platform! Tyler was pretty interested, but I must say, I was fascinated. They are such unusual creatures, especially for someone who grew up having never HEARD of a manatee.

Honestly, this post is primarily for my non-Florida friends, because I know some of you may never have actually seen one of these creatures. Manatees (otherwise known as "sea cows") truly are fascinating. Odd things, yes, but fascinating nonetheless. And they migrate or flock (or whatever a manatee does) to this area as the gulf temperatures cool off to take advantage of the warmer water that is discharged from the Tampa Electric Company (hence why you see all those smoke stacks in the backdrop of this unusual scene).

Hill, if you are reading this...."got tail?"

Click to see some live footage from the webcam at the Manatee Viewing Center. With any luck, you'll get to see just a glimpse of these interesting creatures yourself.

And thank you for tuning into this educational installment of my blog.