Manatee Mating Video

Sunday was Mom's birthday, so we raced across the state to St. Augustine to celebrate her wonderful sweet self.

It took two vehicles, and since the JEEP is, well, a JEEP, and Bear is, well, um , Bear-sized, ... it fell to me to ride over with the huge black lab as my copilot.

His presence is required of course, because he has completely schmoozed my Mom into loving him as a hairy, messy grandson.

"Is Bear coming?" She asks each time I tell her I'm coming over for a visit.

Translation: "I sure hope Bear is coming with you."

And so he does.

Anyway, I was running behind schedule as usual, but not too bad.

In fact I was practically on time, until I crossed the bridge from Palatka proper to "East Palatka.

Technically, I wasn't even all the way across, when scanning the water as I do, a big splash caught my eye.

Now one splash could be anything, but roiling water and repeated splashes ... well, that earns an extra look.
Sure enough, in a quiet cove, right next to the busy highway, a pair of manatees were romancing and prancing in a Sirenian sort of ballet.

I told Bear, "I know this will be a waste of time, but we are turning around and going back to look."

We made it off the bridge, hung a U-turn at the first opportunity and zipped back to the manatee mosh pit.

I fully expected them to be submerged or gone by the time I got down to the shore, but NO, they were fully focused on their foamy frolic.

It was grey, windy, and threatening to rain, so the light isn't great, but my trusty 7 year old Sony came through with some video to share with you.

I filmed for about 15 minutes and yes, I was late for the birthday lunch, but not by too much.

Mom understood.
I wasn't surprised at that ...
In fact, I knew she would expect me to stop and capture the scene.

The orange doesn't fall far from the tree ... and vis versa.
You know what I mean.

Here's the clip.