Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Vicious Attack by a Manatee!

Pam and I decided to get out and enjoy some of this wonderful Florida sunshine, so we hied ourselves over to a local marina and rented two kayaks.   It was the first time I'd kayaked since we lived in Stamford.  I didn't know how I'd do with my weak right arm, so we only rented them for half a day.   As it turned out, two hours was enough.   I barely made it back to the marina, and a worker there gave me a hand up getting out.

Pamela was the official photographer today.   I didn't want to bring my Nikon in the kayak.  Pam's is small and fits nicely in a zip lock baggie.

When we arrived, we were greeted by a flock of turkeys.  I swear one of them said "gobble gobble, ya'all".


Even for a Wednesday, folks were out and about boating and picnicking. 


Cormorants.


Redneck fishin' boat.


Up the grotto.


Turtle on a tree.


Dave and the turtle on the tree.


Turtle on a log.


He seemed kinda stuck up.


Scene of the vicious manatee attack.  We paddled down to the end where there was a large section of water lilies.  Pam noticed the manatee signs first, which were bubbles and swirls in the water.   I  could have a 1,200 pound manatee tap dancing with a 1,000 pound Sasquatch and I wouldn't notice it.  Truth.  Ask Pam.

Anyway, we just sat quietly there watching this huge manatee.  Then we noticed it's baby swimming near it.  Both would rise to the surface every few minutes to breathe.  Then the momma swam towards us.  It got under my kayak and rose, giving it a bump.   It was a warning to go away, so we did.



Pamela took a photo of a hawk.  I looked everywhere but I couldn't see it.  It must be behind that owl.



We paddled down the river and then up a small creek.   We went quite a ways.  There was no current so I'm guessing that it dead ends somewhere, but we didn't reach the end.


Eagle.


Great Blue Heron.


On another totally unrelated note, we had F16 fighters buzzing all around.  Its been going on for days now.  They're flying very fast and very low.  Yesterday one buzzed over the tree tops, shaking the RV.   I wonder what's going on?

1 comment:

  1. Glad you're okay, Dave... Sounds like it was touch and go for a while.

    ReplyDelete