Sleeping Manatee Back

Manatee Snout Drinking

Manatee Drinking from the Garden Hose

We spent the day on Key Largo. We kayaked from the hotel, visited the Wild Bird Sanctuary again and took an eco tour. The eco tour was also a sunset tour. Key Largo is bordered by five parks, such that almost all of the waters around it are government protected. To the north is the Everglades, east is Biscayne and south is Pennekamp. There are also a couple more to round out the handful. 

We were two of six guests on a patio boat, piloted by Captain Larry. Adverts for this tour boasted mangrove forests, birds galore and as a teaser, manatees. I was doubtful of this last attraction, but I shouldn’t have underestimated the “manatee whisperer”, as Larry likes to bill himself. We began our tour manatee hunting, in the most unlikely of place, at least to my mind.

The keys were once coral reefs, but when the ocean level dropped, they became islands. In their hearts they are still reefs and except for a thin layer of topsoil are solid coral rock. Starting in the fifties, in order to create more ocean front property canals were dug. These canals were blasted and cut into the rock and became a water network for residential communities. Not exactly where I would have first gone looking for manatees.

The thing about sea cows that differentiates them from other marine mammals is that they require fresh water. That’s why they thrive in Sarasota Springs, which has natural fresh water springs. In Key Largo there are no natural sources of fresh water, at least anymore, but there are plenty of manmade ones. Someone washing off their boat is enough to attract them. They have excellent hearing.

Larry has plenty of obliging neighbors, who were more than willing to run some water for a passing tour boat. Technically it is illegal to water the manatee, but besides boat washing there is also tubs to fill, etc. We were able to approach to within twenty feet, without creating any recognition of our presence.