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Introduction  Article 1: First Encounter Article 2: Endangered
Article 3: Protection Conclusion: Preservation
 Five o'clock in the morning was slow to arrive but eventually, after a 14-hour drive and a very long night swatting roaches in my motel room, it did. I loaded my gear and was at my charter boat captain's house by 5 a.m. We headed across the state of Florida, from the East Coast to the West Coast at Crystal River. Little did I know that I was about to experience one of the most awe-inspiring creatures on Earth.
We launched the boat, geared up for snorkeling, and by 8 a.m., the captain was yelling, "Over there, there's one!" He positioned the boat and pointed to a spot where I should enter the water so off the bow I cautiously lowered myself. The captain directed me as I swam although I could see nothing. Suddenly, I felt a presence in the water... something very close, yet unseen... closer and closer... quietly coming closer. And then, there she was, beside me, in front of me, all around
me... ever so silently.
My first thought was how large she seemed. "How big is she?" I asked Joe, our captain. "About 1200 pounds." How could a creature weighing 1200 pounds appear so suddenly, silently beside me? And why, dwarfed as I was in her presence, was I not the least bit apprehensive? As I reached out with one hand to touch her, to confirm she wasn't a mirage, she rolled over and guided my hand with her flipper to a spot on her chest where she wanted to be scratched. I was hooked; permanently enraptured by this creature.
For the next 6 hours I was in the water, losing all sense of time and place. She stayed with me for almost 3 hours, playing with me, guiding my hands with her flippers, rolling over, swimming beneath me, circling me, gliding between my fins. Most miraculous of all, as she pressed my arm to her chest with her powerful, nailed flippers holding me just tight enough, but not so tight as to hurt me; she towed me through the water. Her skin was remarkably like that of an elephant with sparse, wiry guard hairs. Around her face and head the skin was folded and slightly wrinkled. The skin on her back and underside was smooth with patches of algae growing here and there. Her nailed flippers reminded me so much of an elephant's foot. The mammary glands were all but invisible, hiding within the rear folds of her two flippers. Only later was I to discovered how unusual her physical appearance was, and how fortunate she had been in her encounters with man.
Occasionally, she would leave for a few minutes only to return shortly for another round of play. "Where is she going, Joe?" He responded that she probably had a calf close by who was calling to her for nourishment; and once she was comfortable with me, she would bring the calf. Eventually, she did bring the calf to me. What an honor and compliment when she presented her precious calf.
As boat traffic picked up later in the morning, she left to take her calf to a safer haven. I reluctantly climbed back into the boat as Joe set a course for Three Sisters Springs and one of the manatee sanctuaries that is set aside as a respite area for the Crystal River Manatees. By law no one is permitted inside the area set off by marker buoys but with the clarity of the water, it was easy to see into the protected sanctuary; and there we found a dozen or more manatees, including several mothers with calves.
Captain Joe advised that we move as slowly and quietly as possible and in doing so, the curious manatees would soon leave the protected area and initiate contact with us. After a few minutes several of them swam to us asking to be rubbed and scratched. It was then I saw just how unusual and fortunate my first manatee had been. Nearly all of the adult manatees in this group bore the deep scars and mutilations so commonly found in the Florida Manatee population. Some scars were fresh and still healing but many others had long since repaired themselves leaving permanent disfigurement and in some cases, disability.
How could such a gentle, quiet, unassuming creature suffer such trauma? What was happening to them? Will we see the last of the Florida Manatee during our lifetime, another species lost to eternity? And, what can be done to save this magical angel of the sea?
© Becky A. Dayhuff 2000
Introduction Article 1: First Encounter Article 2: Endangered
Article 3: Protection Conclusion: Preservation
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