Chevriers Visit us & Manatees, April 7-8, 2010

Our oldest Daughter, Susan, and her family of two children and husband came to kayak & hopefully see some manatees.

Alan Chevrier, our son-in law, and Jim are just relaxing in the Three Sisters Springs while the kids play & look for manatees. How relaxed can you get???

Here are Alan & Jim again, only this time looking more lively. Look how clear that spring water is!

Steven & Laura are either snorkling or putting on their masks. Since it is April, there were only two manatees in the springs.

Here they are both intently using theoir equipment to see what ever they can!

Laura, Susan & Steven each had their own kayak and loved paddling!

This is a close-up of Laura as she lifts her mask.

This is Laura again, this time getting the snorkle ready.

Steven is about to swim off with his mask & snorkle!

Susan is thoroughly enjoying kayaking!

Susan and Steven head out of the spring toward the river.

The next day, we all went to the Homosassa State Wildlife Park to see birds and animals indigenous to Florida. These are not statues from someone's yard, but real flamingoes!

Here we were able to see more manatees and even see them eating.

This manatee swam away before the attendant got there to feed her. I guess she wanted "fast food"!

And what is a picture of Florida like without an alligator! Fortunately, this one was behind big fences.

This wood duck was in the wild outside the park. We saw him as we were leaving.

This is a wood duck family, minus the mother.

Here is the whole family! They were outside the park, but great to see.

Somehow they were able to snatch some of the manatees lettuce. Dad watches while the youngsters and Mom eat. That's what Dad's do... protect the young. Hoorah for Dads!

Smiths Visit the Manatees on March 22, 2010

Our friends from Canton, Georgia came down for a day to swim with the manatees. This is Barron and Irene Smith and Irene's son, Cody,visiting from Denver. The Smith's have two kayaks which they brought. Barron & Cody used them while Irene & Jim went in our canoe.

This is Barron Smith. He enjoyed just swimming around the manatees and watching them.

Cody was very brave and went right in to swim with mask & snorkle among the manatee. He did want to touch them, since this was his first encounter. (They have rough skin.)

He did manage a touch or two with the manatee. Note the one-handed touch, in keeping with the regulations in dealing with these gentle creatures.

This is Irene in the canoe as a mantee comes up for a breath. (I was unable to go on this trip due to my back surgery on March 3rd.)

Irene is making sure she gets lots of photos.

Jim is also there with my camera to get some good shots.

The night before their trip to Three Sisters was very cold, so the manatee were really gathered in the spring in numbers. This was unusual. For five years we have made trips to the spring to see if the manatee are there and have only encountered one or two in those years. This cold winter made for great manatee watching & swimming.

This shot shows quite a few of them gathered. If you did not know what you were looking at you would think they were big rocks on the bottom.

And here is a cute manatee face!

This is another shot showing the numbers of manatee there. The nice thing about the spring is that the water is so clear that you can photograph the manatee from above the water with some success, as opposed to the rivers where the water is not as clear.

March 18, 2010-Michael Chevrier & Aubrey Ames Come to see Mamatees

Our second oldest grandson, Michael Chevrier, and his Fiance', Aubrey, came to visit us and to see the manatees in the Three Sisters' Speings.

They used our canoe, while Jim rented a kayak to guide them there. I was unable to go due to my back pain. Here are two manatees, perhaps a mother and calf.

Here are Michael & Aubrey, after swimming with the manatee. I think they had a very successful trip. They used Aubrey's Dad's underwater camera & were able to get some great shots as well as two videos. If you are interested in the videos, let me know & I will send them to you.

Note the "bite" out of the tail of this manatee. Most have scars and other injuries, mostly from run-ins with boats.

Coming right at ya! These are marvelous photos, taken by Michael & Aubrey.

This is a manatee cow & her calf.

This is another close-up!

This is a cow & her calf swimming away. You are not to scare them but may only touch them with one hand.

This is rare...a calf nuirsing off her mother! The nipple is just under the flipper.

This is another shot of the calf nursing. I now want an underwater camera like this one! :-)

Here are the two lovebirds at another park near us called Rainbow Springs Park. They seem happy, don't they! Actually they will be married in Denver oin June 18, 2010. It was so great to have them spend time with us and the manatees!

February 19, 2010-Ellsworth's Visit

Last winter was not the greatest for us, health-wise. About two weeks after after arriving at Sandy Oaks RV Park, in Beverly Hills, FL, about Nov 3rd, we each had some major health issues. Mine was a wrenched back which resulted in extreme sciatic pain down my left leg to prevent me from walking. Shortly after that happened to me and I was on major pain medication, Jim had a detached retina. Soooo.... we asked some good frinds to drive us back to Atlanta to have surgery on Jim's eye the next day. Jim could not drive nor could I, so our friends, the Annis', drove their car with Jim lying across their back seat and drove our Jeep with me in the passenger seat.


Bottom line is all went well. Jim has better than 20/20 in both eyes and I had my back surgery at Emory University on March 3rd and am doing fine.

The best thing about the winter was that we had lots of guests in Florida, when we were there, to go and see manatee in the wild at our Three Sister's Spring in Crystal River. It si wonderfulto swim near the manatee in the wild.



The first group to arrive were the Ellsworths. That includes my daughter, Katy, her husband, Dan, and their boys, Tad, Jared and Reed.

We took our canoe for Jim and I and Reed, while the others rented kayaks. Reed is watching his brothers and Jim load the canoe into the water.

Jared and Tad try out their yellow kayak as we leave the dock.

Katy and Dan are now at Three Sisters. See how clear the water is! They appear to be levitating!

Here they are again--Dan & Katy.

Due to an unusually cold winter, we saw lots of manatee in the spring. The water temperature in the spring is 72 degrees and the gulf is in the 50's.

Here is Jared, the brave one, getting his mask on to go see the manatees under water.

Jared is so brave he is trying to pet a manatee and does accomplish that. It was quite cold while we were there.Here is Jared touching the manatee. Katy took awhile to be brave enough to get in the water with those big creatures but finally did it also.

Here Dan & Katy are heading back out the entrance to the spring. It is a very beautiful place!

Jared & Tad are heading back from the spring. You can tell it is cold by the sweatshirts they are wearing.