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Day 8 - 27th May 2012

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Crystal River 

Part 1

Manatees, Dolphins & Captain Stacy

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Jump to Part 2 - Homosassa Springs Wildlife Refuge

An early morning start for a tour with just Miche & I and Captain Stacy...





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...




Part 2 - Homosassa Springs Wildlife Refuge

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Day 1 - Travel Day 2 - Everglades NP Day 3 - Florida Keys 
Day 4 - Biscayne NP Day 5 - Shark Valley Day 6 - Kayak & Boat
Day 7 - Fossil Hunting Day 8 - Manatees part 1 Day 9 - Manatees part 2
Day 10 - Memphis Day 11 - Memphis to Gatlinburg Day 12 - Dollywood
Day 13 - Cades Cove Day 14 - Mount LeConte Day 15 - Gatlinburg to DC
Day 16 - Washington Day 17 - Smithsonian