Florida Day 8 - 27th May 2012

Crystal River 

Bottlenose Dolphins hunting Mullet...

They would herd them up against the bank, forcing them to jump out of the water and then catch them as they landed...

Celebratory post-meal roll...

Miche watches on, but like a coiled spring, ready to enter the water as soon as Manatees are sighted...

First in-water encounters (we'd been encouraged to use a noodle for buoyancy)...

They are naturally curious, particularly in adolescence, one sneaks up on me from behind. The water visibility at this point was about a foot...

First underwater sightings nearer to the spring, where the fresh, flowing water helped to improve the visibility...

A mother and a newborn calf (only a day or two old)...

Miche drifts by...

Mother and calf again, they suckle from under the armpit...

No manatees in this shot, but it all looked a bit Star Trek transporter...

Happily feeding as it passed underneath me - you could hear the munching in the water...

The water has flooded the tree roots and the water weed resembled grass and ground plants in places, so it looked like a dappled woodland, until a fish would swim by...

 

Looking up one of the channels...