Magnificent Manatees of Florida

[spt29970]

Here are a few more for your perusal. I have somewhat mixed feelings about the second to last one. The water was getting pretty stirred up so I tried to make lemonade out of lemons by capturing the sun rays, which I got alright, but I am not happy with the particulates in the foreground. What do you think?

I like the "four armed" shot with the surface reflection.

 

[Fishfood00]

Nice pictures

 

[scuga]

These are great photos! Great Job! I was down there a month ago it was awesome.

 

[ScubaFeenD]

Last week I had to go to a tradeshow in Orlando. I decided to go a day early and do something fun. I drove from Orlando to Crystal River and went snorkeling with the Manatees in the springs. Even though the Florida Manatee is endangered and there are only about 3000 left in the wild, you have a good chance to see them in Crystal River in winter. Manatees are very temperature sensitive, so during the winter the Manatee congregate in the springs, which are comparatively warm. This winter has been particularly cold, so in the Three Sister's Spring, we saw at least 75!

If you ever get a chance to do this, I highly recommend it. I went with "Bird's Underwater", who runs a professional, respectful operation. Here are a few of my images from a morning with the Manatees. Click on the images for more details.

Enjoy!

Yeah, I had a chance to snorkel with them last summer and It was a really amazing experience. They are so friendly and playful, it is too bad they are so endangered and probably wont make it to the end of the century.

 

[roguetrixie]

You have some really great pictures! I've been wanting to swim with them but haven't had the chance to yet. I didn't realize they're so big! I like the picture with the sunlight.

 

[Tandoorii]

I heard about some problems with operators not paying attention to the "rules" required when swimming with the manatees. Have these issues been resolved. Do you know which operators have not been compliant? Which have? I'm going to be in Florida in August. Is that a good time to see them. Any diving allowed with them or nearby?

Thanks,

 

[crgravitt]

I actually like the photo in question - the particulates give a nice texture to the rays of light!

 

[RiverVentures]

Super pictures for sure.