#manatee
4 posts tagged.
Florida Manatee Zones — Slow-Speed Signs, Idle Zones, and the Boater Rules That Save Lives
Florida has the only place in the U.S. where you can legally swim with manatees — and the only place where you can rack up a federal fine for poking one. The practical guide to the zones, signs, seasons, and what to do at a boat strike. For boaters, paddlers, and anyone curious about the January markers.
Manatee Springs — The Quiet Alternative to Crystal River
Levy County's first-magnitude spring on the Suwannee, named by William Bartram in 1774. Ten to forty manatees on a January dawn — not five hundred — and almost no one watching with you. The quiet alternative to Crystal River.
Wakulla River Paddle — A 9-Mile Cypress Tunnel With Manatees and Gators
Nine miles of gin-clear spring water through cypress tunnel in the Florida panhandle, fed by one of the world's largest springs. Manatees year-round, alligators on every bank, a beginner current, and a turn-key shuttle out of St. Marks. The densest wildlife paddle in the state.
Wakulla Springs — Glass-Bottom Boats over Mastodon Bones, an Hour from Tallahassee
One of the largest freshwater springs in the world, pumping 260 million gallons of 70°F water a day. The glass-bottom boats glide over fossilized mastodon bones 100 feet down. Tarzan movies were filmed here in the 1940s. Manatees winter in the spring run. And almost nobody outside the Panhandle has been.