from the crow's nest

Yesterday Fred came home from his walk at Ft DeSoto telling stories about a group of manatees that were 10 feet off the beach. He said there were 12-14 just lolly gagging around!

Well, today Hugh, the park biologist, asked us if we had seen the manatees yesterday. So it wasn't just a tall tale, the story was substantiated. Hugh said he watched them in the early morning darkness and it was clear that a group of cowboys were having their fun with a female, if you know what I mean. At first he thought the female was dieing because the male(s) would come up to her and touch noses. But evidently it was simply part of the mating ritual and she wasn't at death's door.

Later, as we were finishing our walk, we spied movement in the water about 20 yards out. We watched closely and could see about 3-4 manatees moving down the beach at approximately 3 mph. Probably some "bad boys" looking for more good fun.