Brace yourselves, my friends. This is going to be a LONG post. So long, in fact, that I have broken it up into three parts.
A few weeks ago, as I was slogging through the seemingly never-ending book 3, I took a break and saw that Whale Research EcoExcursions was leading a trip to Florida to see the manatees. I had been thinking about taking a break, and did a little research, found out if my dog sitter was available, and made the call.
Last Friday (January 23) I set out for the Portland Airport, though my flights would be the next day. Very early the next day. And in spite of a couple hiccups, arrived in Orlando, ready for the tour.
January 25 – Air Boat Ride, Excursion Prep
To ease us into the adventure (and because many of our planes arrived late) we started out with an early morning airboat ride followed by play in the waterpark next door.
Naturally, I remembered to bring my camera. And, of course, naturally, I had forgotten to put the battery back in after packing it for travel. So, I relied on my camera phone to record the best moments.
In summary…
The ride was a lot of fun, and we saw many things that I would have loved to take pictures of. But, alas, only this alligator was big enough for my phone camera.
The boat guide took this group photo for us.
Upon return from this adventure, we spent the afternoon in the water park next to the condo. After dinner we were supposed to meet in “the pool” for a snorkeling lesson and manatee interaction guidance.
Now… I have said it before, and I will say it again: I can get lost anywhere. Keep that in mind for the rest of this story. You’ll need this map.
We were in the red building. As you can see “The Pool” is visible as being west northwest of us. I got tired of hanging around waiting for everyone to get ready, so I decided to go down.
I was in my bathing suit and holding my towel, mask, and snorkel. Not hiking gear. I truly expected this to be a few minutes.
I went down and exited the east side of the building, going north, then west. I found a pool (not-the-pool-1). It seemed a long way from what I could see from our balcony, but I had gone in that direction…
Time passed. No one else came.
I realized I was in the wrong place, so, I made my way back to the condo. No one there.
I found not-the-pool-2. No one. I found not-the-pool-3. No one.
Finally, I noticed a pool tucked right behind our building. “The Pool”. No one was there either.
At this point I can’t even describe my mental state. Closest is “whatever”. I sit there for a few minutes, trying to come up with a plan. I decided to just go back to the room and wait until someone comes to let me in. (Clarity note: There weren’t enough room keys to go around, so we were always passing them around. I didn’t have one that night.)
As I rounded the corner to head back, a young girl starts screaming. She is being followed by a fancy car and two yelling guys. From the shouts I gathered they were mad she was walking in the middle of the road (she was) and she was mad they were following her (they were). Minutes went by and a security guard appeared. The parties went off in their separate directions.
And I’m there, locked out the room, unable to find my group, in my bathing suit.
Yeah.
Eventually, the group came back. They had, indeed, been at “the pool”… in the hot tub.
January 26 – Visit Crystal River Refuge Headquarters, Snorkel Three Sisters Springs
The next day was scheduled to be our first with the manatees. A cold snap had hit the area, and the manatees were expected to be heading en mass to the springs to keep warm. To learn more about manatees, we stopped at the Crystal River Refuge Headquarters. I looked at the exhibits for a while but eventually went outside and birded the area.
Next, we headed for Crystal River Watersports where I checked out a wetsuit (more about that in a minute) and boarded our boat. It was brisk and cold. Somehow the picture below represents a pretty good overview.
About that wet suit.
My mom liked to tell a story about me as a three-year-old. Apparently, she found a very cute Easter dress, and she wanted me to wear it. She said when I tried it on, I had complained about the “itchy” sleeves, but she ignored me. I managed to get to church in the offending garment, but apparently that was as long as I lasted. Sometimes she told the story saying I ripped the sleeves off. Sometimes it was that I took it off and ran around naked. I have no way of knowing the truth, but I believe there was an itchy dress and that Mom ignored the warning signs.
I had been apprehensive about the wet suit part of this experiment from the get-go, asking if I would be required to wear one. I was told that some people were able to go without one, but my swimming time would be limited. With this in mind, I gamely tried to wiggle my way into a wetsuit. And I did. But one sleeve was just WRONG. WRONG. WRONG!!!
We agreed not to zip up the suit yet and headed out. For most of the thirty-minute journey, I managed to tolerate the sleeves, but there was a moment when the wet suit touched one nerve too far and it became clear (to me) that it was going to kill me. It was touching me all over! Hard no! No! NO! The guides, now dealing with non-rational Tara (not a good version) helped me get my arms out of the offending suit. We agreed to try to wear the rest of the suit, tucking the awful arms inside. Non-rational Tara felt that was worth a try and the evil wetsuit aborted its death plans.
We got to Three Sisters Springs and were urged to get into the water quickly. The National Wildlife Service was just behind us and they would probably close the springs to visitors in order to protect the manatees. Once in the water, everything was fine. I followed the group into the springs, and it was gorgeous. The manatees were not packed in yet, but there were a few. I was startled at how large they are. I mean, I know they say they are 10 feet long… but that’s massive in real life!
My phone camera, in its waterproof case, did not care to cooperate with the cause. I got a few photographs (not video). It’s clear there were manatees, but if the photographic evidence had been 100% in my hands, the day would have been a failure. Below I have placed drone footage of the day (not my footage, there is a service). I am actually in there at one point (the last few seconds).
I was in love with the manatees from the first moment, but I have to admit they were not very active this day. Resting, mostly. Still, I had a blast. Then it came time to head back to the boat. As we were heading out of the springs (in the photo below there are two distinct pools with a smaller pool leading to a narrow entrance to the main channel) the manatees started to arrive. I’d be swimming out and manatees would be swimming in. They’d look at me, roll their eyes (“who let this trash in?”), and dip down to swim RIGHT below me. Someone said we passed ten in this manner, with just inches separating us. It was awesome!
Cold and exhausted we returned to the boat. I was just a little chilled (and maybe glad I had as much of the wet suit on as I did) but a couple of our group were so cold that they were shaking. For the next trip we’d bring blankets and even more cold weather gear!
Back at the dock we got into dry clothes, giddy with the manatee encounters. We had a late lunch, then headed north with a stop at The Villages to pick up something the guide needed from her mother’s house. Once there, Carrie drove to a variety of spots and we happily birded during golden hour.
While I loved the birding, I could have lived without a rather lengthy stop to gather items. I was still a little cold, increasingly hungry, and there hadn’t been a lot of sleep over the last few days. In order to avoid breaking into full-on obnoxious Tara (another less desirable version) I put on my earphones and sat in the car. I didn’t nap, but it was a near thing. Eventually, our food arrived and we took the pizzas, loaded up, and headed back to the Orlando condo.
With one thing and another, I have to admit that I was feeling apprehensive about the rest of the trip. There had been three “Bad Tara” incidents and the part of me that was trying to go with the flow was struggling.
But things turned around.