Swimming with Manatees

A big fear of mine is not knowing what is under me in a body of water. I hate not being able to see what could possibly be touching me of what will come up and surprise me. Underwater creatures are just so interesting and I like to watch them on a screen...far away from my actual body. I regardless of how I felt during this experience I think every single person should get to do this once in their lifetime. It also gave me a story for you all to laugh at me about. 

On my spring break trip, which you can read about in my adulting blog, my Grandma set up a morning swim with manatees in Crystal River, Florida. I was super excited because that is a once in a lifetime experience and I get to do it. The idea of meeting a new animal and trying something I never have done before was really cool. 

The night before swimming with the manatees I was laying wide awake in my hotel room. I couldn’t sleep so I googled about manatees. I wanted to know what cute face I was going to be saying and I noticed that they can weigh between 900-1,000 pounds. 

That is WAY bigger than I imagined them to be. 

Now I’m imagining a six foot long, 1,000 pound manatee eating my face off. My fear of underwater animals is present at this point. I calmed myself down by thinking about the fact that it is only going to be like 3 or 4 manatees hanging out in very clear water. I am going to know where everything is at every second. 

The morning of the swim I get to the boat dock, I wet suit up, and I settle in to watch the video called “manatee manners” that focuses on how to treat the manatees. Well, this video showed the springs we would be swimming in and it showed maybe 100s of manatees. Remember when I thought it was going to be 3? Yeah not correct. I’m totally nervous and to make it worse you can’t really swim in the water. You have a little floatation device and just kind of float around and do little doggy paddles with your arms. 

I’m really worried now. How do I get away from them if they are touching me?! 

We road the boat out to the springs and we splashed into the water. Within the first minute of being in the water, a manatee comes up and NIBBLES on my arm. I am hysterically laughing because I am so nervous I am about to lose my arm… Did you know manatees don’t have teeth and only eat grass… I didn’t. 

Here I am looking dumb as ever thinking a manatee is going to eat me but it was just trying to play. I calm down (only a little bit) and we swim deeper into the spring. The water is murky so you can’t see anything until it is within 5 inches from you. I had manatees surrounding me for a whole 2 hours. Little eyes, big tails and a bunch of body’s just swimming around me. 

If you get in their way, they will physically move you themselves and that was even scarier! I wouldn’t know a manatee was behind me and all the sudden I am launched 3 feet forward. Towards the end of the I got more comfortable with the manatees and was in awe of the creatures. It is unbelievable how something so loveable, they are underwater puppy dogs I swear. My favorite moment during the whole trip was when the original manatee, that nibbled me on my arm, gave me a kiss goodbye before I got back on the boat.

I think this was really important for me to do, I was able to face a fear that is slightly irrational and not as bad as it should be. I was given the chance of a lifetime to experience a beautiful creature in its home. I think facing the things you are scared of is important to growing as a person and realizing how wonderful the world is. That is why I push myself towards things like this. I am still nervous of vast open waters but if I ever run into a manatee I’ll be okay.