We noticed the sign for Manatee Park but had not realized they actually have manatees there until reading a friend's journal. We decided to go take a look.
We paid for one hour.
The manatees come for the warm discharge water from the power plant, a common occurrence in Florida. There was a bit of wind and the water was not clear so it was an adventure seeing the manatees. But there were many of them here.
We were actually seeing them a bit better with our polarized sunglasses but do not have a polarized filter for the camera.
Snoot photo!
This one is visible.
The best snoot photo of the day. We have done better seeing manatees in
other places, see the Wildlife
Photo Index for those plus the entries for the Bradenton, Florida Aquarium
and Homosassa Springs Wildlife State
Park.
They also have a butterfly garden. We saw a Sulphur butterfly but it didn't want its photo taken.
Nice signs.
Manatees need water at 68 F or warmer to do well. They will venture into colder water to feed but cannot stay long. There is no food here so they have to venture out to feed.
Wow, the only bird we saw was a snowy egret and it is not on the list.
We also tried to take videos, but were not very successful. But here they are.
OK video of manatee (545KB WMV)
Another OK video of manatee (1.06MB WMV)
What most videos were like (3.31MB WMV)
If we get a chance we will come back on a calm day now that we know the place exists.