Plan Your Florida Vacation
The aim of this blog is to provide as much information about things to see and do whilst you are on the holiday of a lifetime in the vacation capital of the world - The Sunshine State of Florida.
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Do You Want To See A Mermaid?
Posted on June 29th, 2009 No commentsWritten by: Andy Brownlie
Authors WebsiteMany years ago, the story goes, sailors spotted a creature in the seas around Florida which they believed to be a mermaid. It was the Manatee. Now their eyesight might have been suspect, or perhaps they had been at sea for too long and had forgotten what a woman looked like, because manatees are not the prettiest of animals; they do, however, seem to have an irresistible charm.
Believe it or not, the manatee, or “Sea Cow” is a distant cousin of the elephant, and scientists have traced them both back some 60 million years to a common ancestor. Their forelimbs contain three to four fingernails, very similar to an elephant’s.
Manatees are herbivores, eating only aquatic plants, and typically grow to about 2,000 pounds and almost 12 feet. Unhappily, their backs often bear the marks of boat propeller scars, as they tend to graze near the surface of shallow water. They have no natural predator, but contact with humans (and their boats!) along with loss of feeding grounds (also down to the humans) has made them an endangered species
So Where Can I see Manatees in the Orlando area?
The easy answer, of course, is at Sea World, but it might be more fun to see them in the wild. We have seen manatees on the Gulf Coast where they congregate around docks in the summer months, and around the Merritt Island area by The Kennedy Space Center.
In the cooler months, however, the ocean gets too cold for manatees, so they look for warmer waters. They typically come to inland Florida waters via rivers and canals.
The best place to see manatees inland is at Blue Spring State Park, just off the St. Johns River (you can get there on the I4), between November and March. There they have a boardwalk which gives perfect viewing.
If you want to get up close and personal, go to the Crystal River area, and go snorkelling or rent a small boat. As many as 300 manatees winter in the Crystal River area on the West coast, 80 miles north of Tampa, and less than 2 hours from Orlando. Again, the best time is from late November until the end of February and it is recommended to avoid weekends if you want to avoid the crowds.
Strangely enough, the Tampa Electric Company is a great place to see manatees during the colder weather. The company’s Big Bend Station on Tampa Bay attracts manatees in winter to its warm-water discharge and they have built a special manatee viewing centre with a viewing platform, open from early December to March (closed Monday and Tuesday). From the I-75 in Tampa take the ApolloBeach exit onto Big Bend road. The viewing centre is at a turn after the road’s intersection with U.S. 41.
Happy mermaid hunting!
Andy Brownlie