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Old 08-28-2004, 05:34 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default Is that a shark?

No. It's a manatee!



No wind in SE Florida right now, that's for sure. So why not hit the reef and take some pictures, viz. is pretty good.


Baby Trigger Fish on the way out.


The guys are hanging out on the reef.


Make sure you don't step on one of these rays while walking on the flats.



There's a current running, so I swim a mile or so down current along the reef and start to walk waaaay back up the beach. Wait, there's something big and brown slopping around in the shallows. Whatisit? Tourist guy asks, "IS THAT A SHARK?" No, it's a few manatee.



I was lucky to come across these guys with fairly clear nearshore water with a digital camera. The last time I saw a pod of four manatee swimming along in clear water in the ocean, I think I was about 18.





I was careful to aviod disturbing or spooking them. By nature, they are pretty low key and docile. More importantly, disturbing manatees is against the law. More about this at:

http://www.floridaconservation.org/p...atee/guide.htm

and

http://www.animalinfo.org/species/tricmana.htm

If I recall correctly, they used to naturally occur in Florida but vanished at some point, perhaps during a period of glaciation. You can find their bones in caves in Central Florida Springs. They were reintroduced to Florida to try to control exotic water vegetation earlier in the last century. Today of course, they are easy prey to powerboats as some of the back scars demonstrate on these individuals. I heard more recently from a manatee expert in Central Florida that this isn't true. Henry Flagler did try to introduce manatee to Florida but they have been around continuously for a very long time in Florida.




















Vanishing into the haze ...

Seeya Guys! Thanks for swimming by! The wind waiting continues ... the safe useable kind, NOT what Hurricane Francis might
bring in about a week. Good luck guys.
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Last edited by admin; 04-27-2010 at 06:41 AM.
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Old 08-29-2004, 04:40 PM
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ricki ricki is offline
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Default

NEW PHOTOS

I went out again today, still no wind, and found something else. You will have to go to the following link to check it out:

under: STILL OT - Is THAT a Shark???

http://fksa.org/showthread.php?t=123

or

http://www.kiteforum.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=131

Quote:
Originally Posted by MonkeyAir
Looks like my old girlfriend before she won that total makeover on TV. The Manatee actually probably has a bit less facial hair and can swim better..Then again I ain't no bargain neither!!!
Didn't the old sailors call these mermaids?
How long would you have to be on a boat to think one of these was a supermodel... That's it!! No cruise ships for me when I am old and blind.. That could result in some really compromising photo album pictures.
Thanks for the centerfold shot...OOOOBABY!!!!
Alone on a Saturday night
Traig
Too funny, Traig classic humor on a roll!

It didn't start with him but Chistopher Columbus did his best to fuel the concept of mermaids:

"The day before, when the Admiral was going to the Rio del Oro, he said he saw three mermaids who came quite high out of the water but were not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men. He said that he saw some in Guinea on the coast of Manegueta."

—From the Diary of Christopher Columbus, January 9, 1493


From: http://www.uab.edu/english/hone/etex...248-sep05.html

Yeah, I can see it now. Just add whiskers to the figure on the left and it would look IDENTICAL to a manatee. Hey pass me another shot will ya, my vision is starting to clear!


A great deal of info about the whole mermaid thing appears at:

http://northstargallery.com/mermaids...idHistory2.htm

These guys have often been compared to walruses without tusks. Great big amorphous mammals to be sure.

We call them sea cows as well. They have been called dugongs in the literature here, neat name but I am uncertain how to pronounce it correctly!

Jim, I decided not to house the Coolpix and picked up an Olympus C-5060 camera to go with the Olympus PT-020 - Underwater Housing (around $160. USD!!!), . I got it for shooting kiteboarding but I think I prefer it for UW shooting.


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