Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Manatee Springs S.P. FL.

We left Cedar Key around noonish Friday and were in no hurry to head north. Approx 40 miles north of Cedar Key is Manatee Springs S.P. so we thought we'd stop in for a quick visit, since Sheryl had never seen a Manatee before. We called the park rangers and they said that there were Manatees in the springs, Yipppeeee.
Manatees are abundent in certain Florida rivers, and especially in the north central rivers. During the winter they tend to frequent the the warmer springs that feed these rivers. The springs are usually a constant temp and Manatee Springs stays at 72 degrees year round.


The Manatee averages 8' to 10' in length and weighs in at several hunderd pounds. We were lucky this little girl was hanging around the spring, just enjoying the warm water bubbling up from underneath.


From the spring itself, it flows a 1/4 mile or so out to the Suwanee River.


Egret stalking it's prey.


This old stump had some eerie looking vines looking to take it over.


This little fella stuck a nice pose for us, sitting on a Cypress Knee.


It still amazes us at just how clear the water is before it heads down stream and becomes darkened by the Cypress trees.



It was a nice to stop for an hour or so to see the park and the Manatees, but it was time to start heading north. We figured we'd drive for a few hours and stop where ever we fancied, and so we did. On a side note, boy am I bad about getting behind on posts, seems as if just a few days go by and there is so much to catch up on. Even our daughter called wanting to know where we were, since "you haven't updated the blog in a few days"....lol so once again, time to play catch up....ok, time to get busy, see you guys in the next post.

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