Manatees, the Gentle Sea Cow
When you book your tour with us, you know you are in good hands. You will be in the company of the best water guides in our area! The vast knowledge and love of nature that our captains possess will make your adventure educational and fun!
As you cruise our beautiful and scenic water ways you will have the opportunity to see many different types of wildlife. One of which is quite the favorite in these parts: The Manatee or Sea Cow.
If we spot them on your tour with us, as you glide along in your kayak or view from above on our boat you will notice these slow gentle sea creatures moving along either alone or in groups. They awaken a sense of awe every time we see one moving along minding his or her own business, truly one of the most peaceful creatures that we are privileged to encounter on our excursions.
Our Florida subspecies of manatee can live up to 60 years and live mostly peaceful lives keeping to the more shallow warmer waters in our areas. They spend about 8 hours a day feeding, and a lot of their time sleeping under water only coming up for air every 20 minutes so they can nap between breaths. Otherwise, they typically breath every 2-5 minutes or so.
These gentle giants can average 12 feet in length and weigh around 1200 pounds, have paddle-like flippers and a large flat tail. The flippers can be used to walk along the bottom while feeding on the vegetation in their path. The manatee uses it’s lips to guide the plant life into the mouth and onto ridged pads on the roof of the mouth, this tears the food and readies it for ingestion.
It is important to respect these creatures and allow them their space. It is never okay to touch, feed, or provide water to them. In doing so, you do more harm than good and endanger their future. They are wild animals and need to remember how to find food and water on their own. Help us in keeping wild animals wild.
Our captains know where and when these large creatures are and it will be a wonder to see them in nature. We don’t see them on every cruise we take out but we do our best and have a lot of success. An experience you will never forget! Check out our many different types of tours, there is one for everybody!
