Manatee and We’re Back

Lazy Days (site CD75)
Seffner, FL

Super Bowl Sunday started out so nicely.  We relaxed a bit and then joined in with Sherry and David on a bike ride around the park.  There’s lots of day use areas but that doesn’t keep the wildlife away.  The Osprey like the tops of dead Palm trees, and Ibis populate the area like crows and pigeons do back in NC.

  

We saw a big lagoon with a floating flock of ducks so we stopped to watch.  That’s when Gin saw something else in the water.  What was it?  It was so far away and none of us had binoculars.  I zoomed in with my camera but couldn’t hold it steady enough to tell.  We thought that it was Dolphin since they were jumping out of the water but we didn’t notice a dorsal fin.  We hopped on our bikes and pedaled off road over to a picnic shelter that was closer to the swells in the water.  That’s when we confirmed that it was Manatee frolicking in the water!  It’s the first time that Gin and I had seen any so we didn’t expect them to come out of the water that much.

After watching them roll around some, we went back to camp since we were expecting Tricia and Dan to join us for some fun before the Super Bowl.  They had just arrived.  Sherry and David went back to relax at Winnona’s site while Tricia and Dan put their tandem kayak and our two boats in the back of their truck so that we could launch in nearer to the lagoon and hopefully paddle out to the Manatee.  We all made it out there easily and locked oars around a “No Wake” marker and watched the show.  I think there were about a half dozen or so Manatee.  We did see at least three frolicking together at one time.

It was very hard to get photos because the water is not clear like it is up in some of the area springs.  I loved the sound they made when they cleared the surface to breathe through their noses…snort! We each had our close encounters with these gentle giants but Dan and Tricia had the best.  They are curious animals and one of them was curious enough to check out their SeaEagle.  I didn’t try to take photos because I didn’t want to miss out on living the moment.  This Manatee tried to suckle the boat right behind Dan and he put his hand in the water to touch it.  He said that it had bad breath.  We lingered out there for a couple of hours to just marvel the moment then went back to Tawanda where the six of us enjoyed some nibbles and watched a little bit of football.

Monday was a runaround day.  Gin and I went to Walgreens to get her medications and over to Walmart to get tubes for some bike tires.  Gin had a flat and so did Sherry.  No more riding off road around here.  Sherry and David joined us in the evening for some games on the XBOX 360 Kinect System.  We had a fun track and field meet with Sherry bringing in the Gold.

Tuesday was travel day back to Lazydays and it was rainy.  Yuck.  Well at least we know that the wipers work well.  We had called a few days ago to ask them to check out one of our slide toppers that was flapping excessively in the breeze so we had an appointment for Wednesday morning.  A technician took a look at it and said that the material was stretched out in the middle so they are either going to order a new one or make one here on site.  We told Tiffany that we need to leave here by the middle of next week to head back to NC.  Hope the timing is right.  Today looks like a good do-nothing day… well ok…I might make up the bed.

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.