Three Sisters Springs and Fort Island

Our search for manatee was not as fruitful as we had hoped. But the sanctuary is GORGEOUS! I had done a little reading and followed some other people’s posts about manatees. I knew that they were most abundant in this area in January.

At some point I realized that once it got too warm/late we might not see the manatee. By the time I made that realization it was pretty much too late to do anything about our schedule except hope the manatee would still be around.

I called the day before we went to Three Sisters Springs to see how many manatee were still around. During the peak there are often 100-200 manatee. That morning they had 30 at Three Sisters Springs. “But they are wild animals and we can’t control if they are here, so we can’t guarantee anything” said the lady I talked to on the phone. I thought that meant we had a fairly good chance of seeing at least a dozen or more the next day. But, I didn’t think that it was worth the risk to pay to swim with the manatee. It’s about $65/person to swim with them and you’re not guaranteed a sighting. Hmmmm. In January or early February I would take the chance. In the end I’m glad we didn’t pay for a swim that day.

One. We saw one manatee really well in the back pool area. Technically we saw 5 manatees, but 4 were out by the bay where the water is brackish and the angle of the sunlight made them look like rocks under the water. The kids even said they kind of looked like potatoes. We were pretty bummed. I called Huck (who was stuck at a repair shop for the truck again) and told him it probably wasn’t worth the money for him to join us.

The kids were really bummed and thought we had wasted our money. On the way there we didn’t even get to ride a trolley as advertised because for some reason they weren’t running. Even the driver wanted his trolley back instead of the van he was driving.

But the area is GORGEOUS!! The water is as clear and aqua blue as the postcards and website show. I decided we would enjoy the beauty of the place even if we couldn’t see the manatee.

At Three Sisters Springs reserve there are people wearing yellow vests who count and keep watch on the manatee. The volunteers wearing orange vests are there to answer your questions. Since there were basically no manatee that day, all the volunteers seemed eager to talk to us – and anybody that would listen. I was determined to learn something and this was science class after all! Manatee have no natural predator. They are most often killed or injured in boat accidents. They are identified by the scars left by such encounters. You are not supposed to approach the manatee – you are supposed to practice passive observation and stop at least 6 feet from a manatee. They are curious and are most likely to approach you if you are still and floating toward the surface of the water. They require warm water to survive. That is why they seek refuge near the output of the power plants and the headwaters of natural springs which are 72* in Florida. Once the water warms up they go out into the ocean seeking food. They are herbivores and also known as sea cows. The area is named Three Sisters because 3 natural springs come together to form the beginning of the Crystal River and King’s Bay. There is a huge underground aquifer that is 200 miles long in Florida. It provides most of the drinking water and natural springs in the area. (Wikipedia says: The principal artesian aquifer is the largest, oldest, and deepest aquifer in the southeastern U.S. Ranging over 100,000 square miles, it underlies all of Florida and parts of 5 states.) Parts of the reserve are closed/roped off to kayakers and swimmers Nov-March 31st so the manatee can rest and not be bothered.

We walked the length of the boardwalk several times waiting for high tide (which was estimated to be 10:42am) because sometimes they come in from the bay/ocean during high tide. And we were hoping some of those at the head of the bay would come into the back of the pool where we could see them better. No luck. The one manatee that we could see really well was resting and would surface to breathe every 5-10 minutes, but not much else.

We eventually walked around another pond that is at the reserve in hopes of seeing an alligator or turtle. We saw a few birds. Then we heard the honking of the horn telling us the bus/trolley was there to take us back to the welcome center. We jogged back to the lot and were happy to see the trolley!!
   

With that adventure behind us we decided to head to the beach at Fort Island.  It amazes (and occasionally frustrates me) that Huck can concentrate and not be distracted by his surroundings. 

 

But that means he gets to enjoy an awesome office location and during his breaks he can check out the kids castle building. After all, someone has to finance this adventure we are on!!