#4 Manatees and Tropiflora

Although we are staying on Lake Manatee, there isn’t any manatee viewing for 35 miles or so from where we are. Since they are warm blooded mammals, they require water temperatures of 68 degrees or higher. The manatees, whose closest relative is the elephant, have found that the water adjacent to a nearby power station is plenty warm for them this time of year. The power company built a viewing area with walkway and visitor center along an estuary.

These 800-1200 pound creatures spend most of their time foraging in shallow waters for food. One thing for sure, they do not jump out of the water like dolphins! The most we saw was a flipper, tail fin, or snout, and it was pretty hard to get a good picture of even that. We could see the shapes of perhaps 10 or 12 manatees in the water, however,

Fortunately, there was a nice visitor center where you could learn about the and see some good depictions.

We hope to see the oldest known manatee in a nearby aquarium, but have not made it there yet. He is about 60 years old, and was born in captivity. On a short walk down a pier, you pass through a 100 foot long mangrove arbor that was pretty cool.

Alongside the pier, you could see a pretty big group of fiddler crabs scurrying about. Having seen them on TV, for some reason, we thought they were quite a bit larger than their 2 inches or so.

Always looking for a good deal, we went to the Red Barn flea market and got some vegetables and a few other small items, but the best part was this sign – does it remind you of anyone you know?

We also found a huge tropical plant emporium called Tropiflora and spent a few hours there wandering through their greenhouses.

They had quite a number of interesting pieces of driftwood for sale, but the prices were anything but cheap. Prices for the larger pieces ranged from $100 to upwards of $1000 plus, depending on how interesting they were.

We spent Saturday evening in the forest in the campground listening and looking for owls. The ranger in the park we are staying at put on a short slide show about owls; it was followed up by a walk into the forest where she played some screech owl calls, and was rewarded with quite a few return calls from prospective suitors. She didn’t call the Great Horned Owls, but we hear them in our front yard at home nearly every night, so we were not too disappointed.

After learning more about owls, we have decided to be a bit more careful about taking Idgy out on the porch after dark!