March 18, 2010 - Setting out to see Florida's 'sea cows'SA 1 MARCH 18, 2010 1 SUFFOLKTIMES.COM
Setting out to see Florida's `sea cows'
Last week our daughter and her husband came
to Florida to escape the record snowfall and Ireezing
temperatures NewYork has experienced this win-
ter. Little did they know they were heading for that
old truism "out of the frying pan and into the fire,"
as Florida was experiencing its awn unusually cold
tempeuatur es. What made it bearable was that the sun
was out, so they made the best of it
The cold did limit their beach -going so we looked
around to find something that might appeal to them
We had heard about the famous Ringiing Brothers
Circus complex, complete with the Ringling mansion,
art museum, circus
FOCUS ON NATURE museum, beautiful
rose garden and exqui-
site miniature chcus
This all sounded good
to us, so we headed
z toward Sarasota
"Le were taken by the mast ure
PAUL STOUTENBURGH circus that took you
througheveryphase
of crt is life. We couldnl believe our eyes; with just
the slightest bit of imagination, the perfect miniatures
of performers, visitors, animals, mairuenance people
and all the tents came to life.
As the temperature continued below normal for
Florida, we decided to take a drive to see where all
the manatees were spending their days waiting for
warmer temperatures to return. We were told they
congregated at the warm -water discharge firm the
coal -fired plant at Apollo Beach. It was an hour's
ride but well worth it The sun was out, the ride
was pleasant and we were all anxious to stretch
our legs when we arrived.
We were amazed to see how manycars were in the
visitors paridnglot People from all over the country
had escaped their colder- than- normal weather to
visit Florida and were nowdtecking on the manatees.
According to the license plates, people from Kansas,
Rhode Island, NewYork, Virginia and, yes, many
Floridians were there to see the huge number of these
giant vegetarian mammals keeping warm byhud-
dling together in this canal near Big Bend Power Plant
until the Tampa Bay waters warm up again
We buttoned up our coats, pulled our hats down
overour ears and headed out to the observation deck,
where we could see people pointing here and there at
these slow-moving manatees, or "sea cows," as they
are sometimes called This nice viewing stand was just
above the manatees. They passed dose below us, lift-
ing their heads out of the water for only a few seconds
for a breath of air before dropping back down again
It seemed like you could see more tails than heads,
perhaps becrause the tails are a lot larger.
Manatees average about 10 feet in length and
about 1,000 pounds, but some can weigh up to 3,000
pounds. Some could be seen nursing as they lolled
about in the canal. Once, while we watched, the bright
sun came out and it seemed as though the manatees
could sense it, as they seemingly all rose to the surface
P
Wallace
PAIR MoTENBuRGH PHOTO
Manatees draw big crowds in the winter, when the water temperature drops and they move into the warmer water around
power plants. We saw more than 200 `sea cows' at the Big Bend Power Plant in Apollo Beach.
PEGGY MMER50N PHICTO
In hard to believe this sea horse is a fish that swims in an
upright position. It lives on plankton and, most unusual,
the male carries the young.
to take advantage of that brief bit of warmth The day
was clear, cold and wordy, a day when the water gets
blown right out of your eyes.
The huge power plant rising up to the sky off to our
right spewed clouds ofwhite steam hundreds of feet
into the air as we stood watching the show of shows.
The manatees were gathered in an area the size of two
football fields side by side As we stood there shaking
in the cold, wed occasionally see a manatee pass by
with scars on its back from a motor boat propeller
We were being blown about by the cold wind so we
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walked back to an area closer to the outfall, or warm -
water discharge area, where we could see fish— per-
haps spinner sharks — leaping out of the water. Bob
pointed out one of the beautiful spotted eagle rays,
with its four - foot -long, whiplike tail, slipping along
dose to the shoreline.
Since the water around the Gulf of Mexico has not
been warm enough for swimming, many visitors have
been walking the beaches in heavy hooded jackets in
search of shells and anything unusual that might have
come ashore. One day we came upon a huge, 12-inch-
wide jellyfish that had come ashore, and when Peg
walked the beach days later she saw a least three more
of them. Though they are hard to photograph since
they are t anspareriL we were amazed at their size-
This most widely recognized jellyfish is identi-
fied by the four crescent - shaped markings on the
top of the bell. These jellyfish are usually six to eight
inches wide but can be as large as 20 inches across_
We found out it was not unusual to see jellyfish
along the shore, particularly after storms, when
they washed in from offshore.
Peg was lucky one morning; I say lucky because we
have never been fortunate enough to find a sea horse,
but she carne upon one on her early morning walk
one day. At home, some of the fishermen have told
me they catch sea horses in their fish traps. These sea
horses, like the jellyfish we saw, might not normally
be on the shore but were probably affected by some of
the record -low water temperatures.
We have been told that typical Florida weather
is coming back and we are hoping the weatheron
the North Fork is going to warm up soon as well. We
should be having days in the 70s and Ws, and I must
say everyone is looking forward to that We shall have
to start doing some more adventuring around here, as
we do wherever we happen to be-
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