Winter Vacay

A few weeks ago (sorry- delayed!) I went on a little winter vacation. My friend Lindsey had gone to college in Florida and was going down between Christmas and New Years to visit/vacation with friends and invited me to go along. I had vacation that I need to use or lose- so I was happy to join in!!

We left at 7 am the morning after Christmas (which was a little rough) and headed south. In southern South Carolina we hit a pothole and got a flat- which moved our ETA from 7:00pm to an actual arrival time of 11:45pm. (we sat for an hour waiting for AAA, and then drove 50mph the rest of the way...)

But it was still a good trip- we spent some time in Jacksonville, visited St. Augustine where Lindsey went to school (in a resort hotel basically), went to Bradenton (which was finally warm) and swam with Manatees!! By far my highlight!!!

I have been into Manatees since I was 11. My mom and step dad went to the Keys for their honeymoon and sent me a postcard from there with Manatees, and brought me back a manatee tshirt. I didn't even know about them before and have loved them ever since!!

On wednesday of our vacay we went to an aquarium in Sarasota, and there were 2 manatees in a tank there. I was soooo excited to see them and took a bunch of pics. While we were there the one girl we were with said "you know- you can swim with them in the wild." Well, i was sold!

We got up Thursday morning at 4 something to leave before 5 b/c we had a 2+ hour drive to be at Chrystal River at 7 (the town where the manatees are). It was not warm or sunny that day- we SQUEEZED in wetsuits and were on the water by 8am. I was a little nervous to snorkel in cold water for 3 hours- b/c i don't like dirty river water or snorkeling or being cold- but it was awesome!!!! I recommend that anyone who loves manatees should do this- they were so sweet and gentle and let you pet them.

Well, that is the story- see some photos below!!!! (ps- the drive back was much more efficient!)

me with the manatee in the aquarium- the highlight of my life until the next day...

This is a baby manatee swimming up to see me and let me pet him (that's really me)

Lindsey's friend Nat getting up close and personal with a manatee (i was this close to one too- but no one was there to photograph it)

My hand petting this very friendly manatee- she let me pet her for several minutes.

we were nose to nose!

  

Lindsey and me in the cold water!!