Manatees Ho!

After quite a Friday night of lightening, thunder and rain, I woke early to a very calm Bay with the wispy sky of dawn displaying a pink and purple tinge that indicates the sun is rising oceanside behind me. I love these kind of mornings especially when I am blessed to glimpse some of the busyness of nature in front of me.

As I was reading, I caught movement in the water out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was just some rogue waves from a passing boat of fishermen but a few moments later I realized what it really was that caught my eye. Manatees!

We usually see them in passing as they go by our dock area in search of greener areas of grassy seaweed. They survive in brackish water by managing to find fresh water springs that feed into the saltier water. Here's a link to another post I did a few years ago about manatees and one that actually played with our kayak.

It was a bit of a blue/gray morning with rain expected to return but I decided to go down on the dock and sit and watch as the manatees spent their morning feeding. It was very relaxing. I could hear them exhale as they surfaced to take another breath and then disappear again. I would see a nose and sometimes a head pop up. I finally counted five different ones when they all surfaced almost together. I think one may have been a little one.

When rain threatened, I headed back inside, thankful for my peaceful morning encounter.