Last weekend….

…. I was taking pictures of storm clouds and rainbows, tonight it was manatees. On Clearwater Beach this evening just after sunset (couldn’t find a parking spot so we missed the sun setting) we saw a large crowd along with flashing police lights. So of course, we went toward it.

Not really my idea, I was thinking something bad happened, but for those of you who know my husband, you know he was going toward the lights. He picked up the pace because he didn’t want to miss anything. In my mind I’m thinking the worst.

Getting closer he was asking people what was going on. They just kept saying ‘manatees’. We’ve seen dolphins, sting rays and jelly fish as the beaches, but never manatees. We usually see the manatees just blocks from our house in deeper water and by the natural warm springs of Old Tampa Bay.

As we got closer we could see them at the last break in the waves; that’s how close they were. There were four of them in very little water flapping tails and just rolling. We thought they were beached but nobody seems concerned.

A person from the Clearwater Aquarium (where the dolphins from Dolphin Tales live) was there watching to make sure nobody touches the manatees. A police officer was on the loud speaker making sure everyone knew it was against the law to touch a manatee. Again this speaks to how close they were.

After a few minutes we heard they were ‘adult playing’. This South Dakota girl speculated that’s what was happening, but the husband said ‘now way’. Well guess what, I was right! We just happened upon some manatees mating at Clearwater Beach; and boy did they have a crowd.

Unfortunately it was after sunset so the picture isn’t that great but you get the idea.