Winter Wanderings 2012 - Day #14 - 2/9

This was manatee day.  The weather was pleasant with a high light overcast to partially diminish the sun's direct heat but still allow some shadows and was completely dry.

We had learned during our dolphin cruise that despite their size manatees have no blubber and are very sensitive to low temperatures.  Historically, when coastal waters cooled in winter they migrated up the rivers where water was warmer.  After a power station was built, discharging its warm cooling water into the estuary of a small river emptying into Tampa Bay, manatees discovered a warm haven for the winter months and became such regular winter visitors that an attraction was created of boardwalks for viewing as well as a riverside walk & the usual food and gift concessions.

With our usual morning efficiency we departed a little before noon and drove to the inappropriately-named Apollo Beach (actually a large marina, huge canal-side developments but no beach at all) and the Manatee Viewing Center.  Now, watching a manatee in the wild in a murky river is just marginally more exciting than watching grass grow, but to someone like me who has never seen a live one it was still a thrill.  The black specs in the upper picture above are all manatees.  Just before that picture was taken I counted an even dozen on the surface simultaneously.  The upper part of their heads rise periodically for a breath of air, a flipper is occasionally seen and tails are seen as they dive down for a mouthful of sea grass.  How many were there in total we do not know, but when on the riverside walk we saw an additional "pod" of 7 or 8 who were slightly more active.  As with the dolphins, getting a photograph of any action is nearly impossible.

Having had our fill of wandering and seeing we went into the surprising "un-tacky" gift shop.  If one was still trying to decorate a home with quality knick-knacks there was an abundance of tempting, good quality stuff, but I just did my usual, getting a Florida Christmas tree ornament and a pretty mug with a manatee decoration.

By then we were hungry so we drove a little way to a marina-side restaurant Jean had been to before, took a table outside, and at Peter's suggestion had our main meal of the day.  We all ordered the same thing, a shrimp, artichoke hearts, linguini concoction beautifully presented and served.  Old greedy-guts managed mine but both Peter and Jean needed a "doggy box" for almost half of theirs.  We all passed on desserts!

We eventually headed home, with a stop to get two new keys cut, both of which turned out to work ALL of the locks I had installed a few days before.  After our labors of yesterday, and a fair amount of walking today we deliberately took it easy for the rest of the day to give our aging bodies a recovery period.  I helped Jean set up a Flickr account, after we had exchanged the daily photographs, and we mutually friended each other.  This was a good enjoyable day, as usual.