Manatee Jamboree!

I'm the worst at blogging. With the move, it has been a little chaotic but things seems to moving along, albeit at a snails pace. We close on our beach house at the end of February (pending an appraisal) and then we will be homeowners for the first time....woohoo! Even though it might seem like we are giving up on our adventure dreams by "settling down", I assure you that this is not the case. We have a few years before we pay off our student loans so we figured we may as well stay in one place until they're gone and New Smyrna Beach is as good a place as any to do so :)  2013 will be more adventurous than ever!!

We started off our new year by donning full wetsuits and snorkeling with the manatees in Crystal River, FL.  If you have read my past posts (there are at least 3 of you) then you may recognize the name Crystal River and that's because we have gone there to go scalloping a few times. It is also home to the only place in Florida where you can swim with manatees when they migrate to the springs in the winter. Apparently, manatees don't do so well in cold water and come to the springs (which stay a balmy 72 degrees all year long) for a lovely winter break. 

The other springs in Florida do not allow swimmers during these months (November-March) but Crystal River offers tours to swim with the manatees and there are a few places to rent wetsuits. This is good and bad. Good: Creates awareness about manatees which could lead to people being more careful when boating. Bad: A bunch of people coming and harassing the manatees while they're on their sweet vacation. We were able to go right up to the springs in a powerboat which is a little scary because there are manatees EVERYWHERE, so you have to make sure to keep an eye out for them to avoid adding to the propeller scars found on the backs of several of them.

A few rules for hanging out with manatees:

1. Do not swim to the manatees, let them swim to you

2. Do not scrape off algae on their skin, pet with an open hand GENTLY. Do not use two hands!

3. Do not ride or molest manatees

4. Don't get in between a momma and her baby or separate manatees from their group

5. Don't bother manatees while they're resting on the bottom

6. Don't feed or give water to manatees

If you're caught breaking any of these rules or harming a manatee, you can be charged up to $50,000 in fines and spend one year in prison. If you respect the manatees and the springs, you will have an awesome time and great stories to tell :) A friend of ours made this video of his week of adventure and the first half is from our time snorkeling with the manatees. Enjoy!