.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
After arriving at our hotel in Crystal River (about two hours north of Orlando Airport) go 11pm we were exhausted and dreading the 5am wake up call. But it quickly came, and we were up, albeit only half awake. The hotel didn't officially start doing breakfast until 6am, but the guy on reception let us run in and grab some cereal and milk to eat in the car before we travelled 5 minutes down the road to the River Ventures tour office.
The lovely ladies at the front desk greeted us as though it was mid-afternoon (obviously used to the early hours needed to spot the manatees). After a quick safety briefing, we got into our wetsuits and loaded into a van to take us to the docks.
Captain Donovan was there to meet us and would be our tour guide for the next couple of hours as we all prayed that the cooler weather would bring some manatees into the area.
It was still chilly and dark at 6:45am so sailing around in an open boat was not warm! After 30 minutes of searching, we'd had no sightings - not even the resident manatees were there. Donovan called some of the other captains to see if they had found any, but no one had been lucky so far. We were getting a tad worried that we had travelled all this way for nothing.
As the other boats headed upstream we stayed in the bay with the Captain saying something about a hunch and the manatees would show up. I wasn't convinced, but there wasn't much we could do...
But we shouldn't have doubted him. Out of no where a mother and calf surfaced right by our boat...awesome!! Everyone loaded into the water and began floating around waiting for the manatees to approach. Unfortunately these guys were having none of it and slowly swam away. Lauren was lucky to stroke one of them before it left, but I thought that my adventure would be over.
A moment later a bull chasing two females came rocketing by me (they can really move for something that weights 1500 lbs!!!), and after that manatee after manatee came into the bay, all swimming right next to us and happy for a stroke.
Three mothers and calves showed up - with the calves being the most inquisitive of them all they would grab you for a hug, go eye to eye with you for a better look, and if you're really lucky, give you a kiss to feel you with their whiskers. I was lucky enough to get all three. It was amazing!
After a couple of in water hyperthermia was setting in so we got out. Cold and shivering, we made our way back to the dock.
A hot shower at the hotel and to pack up then we were off. Inverness was our next stop (no, not back to Scotland). We had to go and get our marriage license so it didn't eat any time out of next week. We were a little bit worried that we'd be there some time, but 10 minutes and we were in
and out with license in hand.
We weren't expecting much out of Inverness apart from the courthouse, but it's such a cute little town with old red brick buildings and museums - beautiful! We stopped at Stumpknockers for lunch despite Lauren having plans to head straight back to Tampa - and boy, are we glad we did! The food was absolutely amazing and not much more expensive than a McDonalds stop.
So with our stomachs full we had a long list of jobs to get done - Best Buy for a US SIM card to use in our phone, Dollar Tree for welcome party decorations and then the mall for some Abercrombie and Fitch. A brilliant day all round!
- Dan
The lovely ladies at the front desk greeted us as though it was mid-afternoon (obviously used to the early hours needed to spot the manatees). After a quick safety briefing, we got into our wetsuits and loaded into a van to take us to the docks.
Captain Donovan was there to meet us and would be our tour guide for the next couple of hours as we all prayed that the cooler weather would bring some manatees into the area.
It was still chilly and dark at 6:45am so sailing around in an open boat was not warm! After 30 minutes of searching, we'd had no sightings - not even the resident manatees were there. Donovan called some of the other captains to see if they had found any, but no one had been lucky so far. We were getting a tad worried that we had travelled all this way for nothing.
As the other boats headed upstream we stayed in the bay with the Captain saying something about a hunch and the manatees would show up. I wasn't convinced, but there wasn't much we could do...
But we shouldn't have doubted him. Out of no where a mother and calf surfaced right by our boat...awesome!! Everyone loaded into the water and began floating around waiting for the manatees to approach. Unfortunately these guys were having none of it and slowly swam away. Lauren was lucky to stroke one of them before it left, but I thought that my adventure would be over.
A moment later a bull chasing two females came rocketing by me (they can really move for something that weights 1500 lbs!!!), and after that manatee after manatee came into the bay, all swimming right next to us and happy for a stroke.
Three mothers and calves showed up - with the calves being the most inquisitive of them all they would grab you for a hug, go eye to eye with you for a better look, and if you're really lucky, give you a kiss to feel you with their whiskers. I was lucky enough to get all three. It was amazing!
After a couple of in water hyperthermia was setting in so we got out. Cold and shivering, we made our way back to the dock.
A hot shower at the hotel and to pack up then we were off. Inverness was our next stop (no, not back to Scotland). We had to go and get our marriage license so it didn't eat any time out of next week. We were a little bit worried that we'd be there some time, but 10 minutes and we were in
and out with license in hand.
We weren't expecting much out of Inverness apart from the courthouse, but it's such a cute little town with old red brick buildings and museums - beautiful! We stopped at Stumpknockers for lunch despite Lauren having plans to head straight back to Tampa - and boy, are we glad we did! The food was absolutely amazing and not much more expensive than a McDonalds stop.
So with our stomachs full we had a long list of jobs to get done - Best Buy for a US SIM card to use in our phone, Dollar Tree for welcome party decorations and then the mall for some Abercrombie and Fitch. A brilliant day all round!
- Dan
No comments :
Post a Comment