• Home
    • About
      • About Brianna
      • Contact Me
      • Work With Me
    • Destinations
    • Travel
      • Budget Travel
      • Short Term Travel
      • Travel Gear & Tech
    • Stories From Abroad
      • Travel Fails
      • Stories
    • Travel Resources
  • Archives

    • November 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
  • Home
  • About
    • About Brianna
    • Contact Me
    • Work With Me
  • Destinations
  • Travel
    • Budget Travel
    • Short Term Travel
    • Travel Gear & Tech
  • Stories From Abroad
    • Travel Fails
    • Stories
  • Travel Resources

Swimming with Sea Cows

December 27, 2015

Something important you should know about me is that I love animal encounters.

Feeding giraffes and elephants and stingrays? Done it.
Holding a koala? Check.
Getting peed on by an alligator? Yup.

As long as it doesn’t involve birds, I’m game for an up close and personal encounter.

Over Christmas break of 2012 my family traveled to Florida to escape the frozen tundra of Michigan in the winter. I had only a few demands during this trip.

First: Disneyworld
Second: Swim with Manatees

My sister and I decided to use the Christmas money given by our grandparents and signed ourselves up for a trip to snorkel with the manatees off the Western shore of Florida.

Early in the morning, we left Orlando and drove to Crystal Springs. After a little over an hour in the car, we arrived. Quickly sliding into our wetsuits, we joined our group to watch an informational video.

After getting the low-down on the conservation of the manatees, my sister and I excitedly took our seats on our pontoon boat. Once everyone was on board, the guide idled out to a roped off section of water marked “Manatee Sanctuary”. He shut the engine off about 10 feet outside the ropes and explained the rules to us: No kicking or splashing. Don’t try to talk through your snorkel. Don’t hang on to the manatees. Don’t try to surf on the manatees.

“Now, who wants to go in first?”

“I DO!” my sister shouted. Adorned with mask, snorkel, flippers and an inflatable life vest, my sister waddle-ran to the front of the boat. Not wanting to miss out, I quickly followed behind.

I eased myself into the water and shivered. For Florida water, it was quite chilly. I fixed my mask around my eyes, placed my face into the water…and panicked.

I couldn’t see anything. The water was murky and brown. Nothing like the crystal clear waters that the informational video had pictured.

The panic made me thrash to the surface, kicking water up with me. I heard our guide yell to me “Young lady! Do not splash! You will scare the manatees away!”

I pretended not to hear him. The splashing was involuntary. Cool your jets, guy.

I calmly placed my face back into the water and started ahead of me, trying to grasp a sense of depth perception. I swam around the side of the boat and found my sister. Squinting ahead of my I tried to make out some kind of figure. As it moved closer, the figure became a grey-greenish blob which moved slowly across my field of vision.

A manatee.

I looked around me and saw the rest of the group clumped around another area of the water. I swam over to see what was there.

Manatees slowly glided through the water around them. I reached my arm out as one drifted by. My fingers slid across its algae-covered skin, and I was in love. Another swam by and and I waved my whole hand across its back. As I floated at the surface of the water I watched the manatees interact with the other snorkelers. Some just swam by, unfazed, while others played and rolled onto their backs for belly rubs.

As I looked ahead of me, I saw one swimming right in my direction. I smiled and put my arms out, as if to receive a manatee-hug. She swam right at me and my hands gently landed on either side of her face.

Our eyes locked, and I saw in her such a gentle peacefulness. Her black and beady eyes saw into me and I felt a great calmness wash over me. She was just as curious about me as I was about her. She continued to swim forward, pressing against my hands and pushing me backwards through the water.

She stopped and I slowly rubbed my hand against the side of her face and whispered that she was beautiful. She stared at me just a few seconds longer as if to acknowledge our new friendship, before she slowly dove downward and out of my sight.

12245539953_432c284e56_n

Note: Photo Credit: Robert Engberg (and the water was nowhere near this clear)

With as many animal encounters as I’ve had, this one holds a special place in my heart. This was the only time that I was an intruder in the animals’ natural space, and this manatee accepted me with welcome, nubby little arms.

***

Thoughts? Questions? Comment below!

 

Share
Tweet
Pin3
Share
3 Shares
animal encounterManateeSwim with Manateestraveltravel blog
Share

North America  / Stories  / USA

You might also like

Don’t Want to Quit Your Job to Travel? Then Don’t! Here Are The Benefits of Short Term Travel
October 12, 2018
Why Travel?
August 18, 2017
What It’s Really Like To Have Zika Virus
October 21, 2016

7 Comments


Jessica Lim
December 27, 2015 at 2:40 pm
Reply

I’m in Florida! Going to look this up to see if I can do it!



    briannakge
    December 27, 2015 at 3:33 pm
    Reply

    Definitely!! There are several different companies that run tours out of Crystal Springs.

Yellowdart
December 27, 2015 at 3:52 pm
Reply

You got to touch a manatee! JEALOUS



    briannakge
    December 27, 2015 at 4:45 pm
    Reply

    Yep! My best description is that it felt like wet elephant.

Deb Steffes
January 3, 2016 at 3:34 pm
Reply

Really enjoy your blog. Your youthful adventures are so fun 🙂



    briannakge
    January 13, 2016 at 6:40 pm
    Reply

    Thanks, Deb! I appreciate you reading and following along 🙂

michaelamanningtravel
January 20, 2016 at 2:34 pm
Reply

Ah! So jealous! I want to swim with manatees, they are such beautiful creatures! 🙂



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • I’m Brianna and I’m possibly the funniest person I know. I’m a total goofball who loves to travel. I fell in love with the world in 2007, when my family and I moved to Sydney, Australia. Since then, I’ve been on a mission to see the world. I'm an ordinary adventurer here to show you how the average person can travel the world.

    Get To Know Me More

     
  • Aching For More Adventure?

    Sign up today for instant notifications of new posts and EXCLUSIVE travel tips!
    * = required field
  • Find Me On Instagram

    instagram
  • Sleep on the Cheap

  • Top 1000 Travel Blog

  • As Seen On…

  • Where I’ve Been




© Copyright 2017 Archives of Adventure // LetsBlog Theme - Theme by ThemeGoods // View this site's Privacy Policy / Disclosure Policy // We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

 

Loading Comments...
 

    Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognizing you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

    You can adjust all of your cookie settings by navigating the tabs on the left hand side.

    Click here for our full Privacy Policy

    Strictly Necessary Cookies

    Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

    If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.