# Manatee!!!



## Joebm83

I Just got back from Navarre pier freediving with some friends and was just wondering if it was normal for a Manatee to be in the area. I've lived here for 21 years and have never heard of them being around here. I was out at the first piling after the broken section and looked passed my buddy and there he was.. I swear it looked to be 10 feet long and 3 feet wide. I was tearified at first so then I decided I would swim up and pet him. I don't think my decision making has ever been rational by the way. But anyway he just swam around all calm like so I followed him for awhile. He seemed to be hanging around the pier with a couple of turtles. If anyone was wondering the vis was horrible and there were no fish to be seen except for the ones you might have in your fish tank.


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## hebegb

I saw one off the P'cola pier once....freakin things are HUGE!!!!!


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## bmoore

Been free diving out there for years and never saw one.

Pretty awsome though!


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## dkdiver

When I was stationed in Norfolk we actually had one wander all of the way up there. They had to transport him back to FL three times over three years since he kept wandering north.



There were a lot of water hyacinths in the gulf today, had to have drifted from the big bend somewhere. I wonder if they are related. Any thoughts


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## wld1985

theres been alot of post about manatees lately.. so I guess there coming back around..


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## hjorgan

Guys..... there are no such thing as manatees.

A pigment of your imagination. Nitrogen narcolepsy or something.

See, old timey sailors called them "mermaids" and proceeded to interbreed with these things.

The offspring turned into tree-huggers and politicians, and have made many of our favorite waters NO WAKE ZONES designed to "protect" the endangered manatee.

Really its to make the interbreeding more pleasant for them. It's hard to get jiggy with it while fighing boat wakes.

So.... shhhhhhhhh. No more manatee sightings.....


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## wld1985

so who could we call/email to let them know we've seen more and more manatees??? Cause i'd like to get on the horn tomorrow about it...thanks


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## hjorgan

Call all your friends. Shouldn't take long...


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## dkdiver

HJ,



Good point. What change it has made on the ST John's on NE FL.


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## specslayer

just told my dad about all the other manatee sightings besides minelately and he said its no big deal that when the water warms up they can be found all the way in texas. i didnt believe him but he is a marine biologist for the national park system so i decided to look it up and this is what i found

"In the summer months, manatees travel freely around Florida?s rivers and coastal waters. A few manatees may range as far west as Texas and as far north as Virginia (one manatee was even documented in Cape Cod, Massachusetts!), but these sightings are rare. Sporadic summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina are relatively common."


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## hjorgan

Yep, used to live in Orlando and fish the St. Johns

Then the manatees became very popular.

So, tough to fish when you have to idle for MILES to protect these guys.

I like manatees just like most folks, love to see them. But like the white-footed beach mouse, seeing too many of them can cause unexpected consequences.

And they NEVER LIFT THE NO WAKE SIGNS.

Have you been out of Perdido Pass lately?

From the ONO bridge it's no wake now. Adds 30 minutes to the trip.


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## Joebm83

> *hjorgan (5/13/2008)*Guys..... there are no such thing as manatees.
> 
> 
> 
> A pigment of your imagination. Nitrogen narcolepsy or something.
> 
> 
> 
> See, old timey sailors called them "mermaids" and proceeded to interbreed with these things.
> 
> 
> 
> The offspring turned into tree-huggers and politicians, and have made many of our favorite waters NO WAKE ZONES designed to "protect" the endangered manatee.
> 
> 
> 
> Really its to make the interbreeding more pleasant for them. It's hard to get jiggy with it while fighing boat wakes.
> 
> 
> 
> So.... shhhhhhhhh. No more manatee sightings.....






I'm sure that the entire distance from navarre to p'cola will be a no wake zone right!!! Guess that would suck unless you were lookin for cobia. I'm sure he will be long gone before anything becomes of it. just wanted to share it with you all, it was a pretty cool experience to see/touch something kinda out of the ordinary.


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## spearfisher

That must have been an amazing sight to see. I will never forget being in Key Largo and sitting on the sea wall one morning eating breakfast andwatching the sun rise, and a big round nose broke right up through the crystal clear calm water. It was a huge manatee, and there was no one else around to see it. I went and woke everyone up to show them, and then jumped in the water with it. It was one of the coolest things I've seen. I wish I could have been there to see this one. Sounds like a once in a lifetime experience.


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## FenderBender

I saw three while I was surfing last summer right on the beach in 6 ft. of water just west of Portofino... pretty cool experience, I paddled over and swam with them a while.


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## flynurse

i just finished my manatee tacos. mmmmmmmmmmmm good. what is the limit on catching them?oke


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