Manatees!

They are incredible! These gentle giants were wonderful today. Look at how close you can get to them. You can see this one's face and eyes. I have many more photos below, after telling you about Steinhatchee and the trip here to Crystal River.

As soon as we arrived in Steinhatchee last Thursday, we went to pay the marina fee and this parrot startled me as I opened the door. It took me a few moments to realize he was real. And he had a partner sitting nearby. This made it really seem like rural Florida in the unspoiled Big Bend area where we were.

This is one of the houses we saw on our walk around Steinhatchee. Note all the crab pot bouys for decoration! I learned to hate those things since we had to weave an obstacle course around them coming and going, and again yesterday when we came here to Crystal River. Anyway, this house again reminded me of the kind of place this area is: earthy in a fisherman sort of way!

We decided to stay in Steinhatchee an extra day since the Gulf was rough, AND, we couldn't depart until the tide rose in the afternoon. That would have made it too late to arrive at the next possible river to the south, Suwanee, because of the tides.

I should mention that when you cruise in my size boat along this part of FL, you are a prisoner of the tides. The rivers here are so shallow that you may travel in and out of them only at mid tide or higher. I mentioned our plans for Suwanee River and the dockmaster suggested I speak to the local guy who rescues grounded boaters (with the company that has pulled me out of the shallows twice on this trip!). He said even if I entered Suwanee at highest tide, it'd be dicey and he would not recommend we go there. Who am I to argue with THIS guy?? So we planned to go to the next possible anchorage 25 miles farther on Saturday, but ONLY if we would leave before dawn to avoid the low tide.

Here's another house on our walk around Steinhatchee. It also captures the way of life here in this old, small fishing village. On our walk I was thawing out, since I'd frozen earlier while cleaning the barnacles and growths in the bow thruster prop blades. Even with my wet suit, I was so cold, and it took a long time to pick and brush and clean in that narrow opening in the bow (and on both sides of the bow). My hands ended up with 25 cuts (which I felt all too painfully when I made the mistake of eating salt and vinegar chips. lol).

But the good news is: the bow thruster works normally again! Sitting for 2 1/2 months allowed it to get all nasty and therefore ineffective. And boy do I need a bow thruster when docking!

One more photo that reminds me of what this area looks like. Many of the trees had tons of moss like this.

After our walk and I stopped my shivering, we took a bike ride. Here's Bert, and in the background you can see Breaking Away at the marina dock.

After a cozy night in our heated boat that protects us from the 20-something lows at night, we were up at 6:00 in the dark to prepare to leave by 6:45 - which we did! We beat the low tide, and escaped back out into the mine-field Gulf with all the crab pots. Our goal was a 60-mile trip to Cedar Key, half way to our next destination, Crystal River with the manatees. But once we got to where we'd turn into Cedar Key, it was early enough that we decided to just go on to Crystal River. It would be a 95-mile trip.

It was a horrendous 95-mile trip!! It was the roughest day on this entire trip, with 25 mph winds, 4-6 foot swells hitting us from the back and side, and we confirmed later there was a small craft advisory. I could not use Otto Pilot since the swells were crashing at the stern, so I fought the wheel for 10 hours. Luckily, Breaking Away is a safe trawler for these conditions, and we plowed on in, relieved to be safe and sound in a marina. Poor Bert got seasick early on, so he had a truly miserable day.

We awoke this morning after a long sleep to recover from the stress, and immediately wanted to go see the manatees. Boy, were they better than we ever imagined! We kayaked only about a quarter mile from a new marina farther up the river, and there they were, coming and going along a little channel that had several side channels with houses on one side and nature on the other. It was a bright, sunny day and the tourists were out. Many many boats carried manatee viewers and snorkelers.

This picture shows a mama and her calf. They move so slowly, if at all. And they seem to have zero fear of humans and our kayaks and boats. Unfortunately, about 50 of this endangered species dies from propeller wounds each year. When we first saw them swim by us so close to us and near the surface, we were so excited.

They come up every few minutes to breathe. This one is breathing, and only the snout surfaces. They can get up to 10 feet long and 2000 lbs, yet it seemed many were bigger than that.

Here you can see its eyes as he was right up next to the kayak!! Oftentimes they were just under us or next to us, hardly moving.

Bert and I kayaked far back into the river, which is fed by natural warm springs, which is why they like it here so much (and why I could go into the water without freezing). There were quite a few tourists out crowding some parts of the waters, so we went down one of the channels between rows of homes and found our own treasures. We were all alone for 45 minutes with a group of about 20 that just hung out there to delight us.

On the kayaking back to the marina, I got this shot of a huge one with Bert in the background. There were still tons of tourists out and about, and they were not disappointed as the sea cows were everywhere.

Once back to Breaking Away, I got out my wet suit, mask, snorkel, and fins, threw them into the dinghy, and went back to try swimming with them. Bert took a bike ride (and bought me a scraper for hull barnacles). I motored along at idle speed to avoid them, and then cut the engine and paddled in the final 100 yards to where I wanted to snorkel. As luck would have it, I was the only human there, right where 30 or so had been earlier.

It was fabulous, beyond words! I pretty much stayed motionless out there, and they came right up to me and stared me in the eyes a few inches from my mask. I couldn't believe it. At first it was scary to have such a huge beast so close, but they were motionless and I soon lost my fear and just pushed them away if I needed to. One took a liking to me and would always return to face me up close. She yawned once and green vegetable yuk spewed from her mouth. I finally wanted to see some others and swam away and suddenly there she was next to me, not wanting me to leave her. I put my hand on her back and let her pull me along.

Another one out there seemed like it was 20 feet long. It had to have been a granddaddy since it had lots of algae and green on its body. A big school of fish kept cleaning off the green as he just lay there still in the water. I swam up close and personal with them, all alone, for about 30 minutes before heading back.

More local color in manatee land. Bert and I saw this on our bike ride. We were too late for the Manatee Festival in town this weekend since it closed at 4:00.

Earlier, after my snorkeling, I scraped barnacles off the metal trim levelers at the back of the boat and brushed the green gunk off the hull. Luckily the prop and rudder were completely smooth and clean. I also had to wash the boat down to get all the salt off, and a few other chores like vacuuming. Bert cooked a great steak dinner,

All in all it was a fabulous day, and I'm glad we came all the way here from Steinhatchee to have the entire day for fun and chores and bike riding. Tomorrow we plan to make it to Tarpon Springs, which will get us off the open Gulf and back into the protected Intracoastal Waterway.