Manatee Springs

Even though the campgrounds were full we could still spend the day there and that is just what we did on our first full day in Florida....Manatee Springs State Park.   This state park has a beautiful spring that produces over 100 million gallons of fresh clear spring water each day and the spring runs through the wetlands into the Suwannee River.  A spot where manatees often swim up to the warmer waters.

Don was hoping to snorkel with the manatees as well as take advantage of the diving at the spring in the Park.  Unfortunately  our tanks were not full and there was no way to accomplish this here or anywhere close...So snorkeling it was.   And the snorkeling was very cool indeed.    For those of you that don't know....manatees are large marine mammals that can weigh up to 1300 pounds, sometimes called the sea cow.  They are large, gentle, slow moving animals that are vegetarians.  And we went snorkeling with a few of them.

Brochure picture of a manatee

The Springs...there are two manatee pictured in the foreground

I am ready to do this

In anticipation....

A real manatee...coming up for air

A manatee is in the back with Don right next to it!

A Happy Snorkeler....

But we weren't only swimming with manatee....there were water snakes (not many in the water or neither of us would have been in there) and vultures hanging out nearby.  

The vultures...

A snake swimming across the spring toward the snake tree...

The snake tree on the side of the Spring....
there were 7 or 8 snakes in this tree all afternoon

The park also had a nature trail that was on a boardwalk above the wetlands that took you out to the river....overall it was a good day and probably our best for this part of florida....swimming with the manatees in such clear water was really cool.