Ok, all work and no play makes the Affluent Artist a grumpy boy, so can I share my day with you? It was amazing!
Sometimes I see me as old manatee
Headin’ south as the waters grow colder
Tries to steer clear of the hum-drum so near
It cuts prop scars deep in his shoulder
But that’s how it goes (that’s how it goes), right to the end
Though his body’s quite flexible, that barnacle brain don’t bend…
Jimmy Buffett
A few years ago, with my fiftieth birthday approaching, I decided to buy a motorcycle. Not just any little starter Japanese bike, oh no; A big, honking Harley Davidson. I went as far as to visit several showrooms, look up the licensing classes and talk to bike riding friends. One of them said,
“Well, the classes are great, they teach you what to do when you go down”.
“You mean IF I go down”
“Oh no, you’ll go down.”
So, it was decided I would buy a boat.
Amie, my 24 foot Stingray cabin cruiser has literally changed my life. I keep it on Merritt Island here in Florida, right near the Kennedy Space Center, my Happy Place. My time on my boat is when I bliss out, I sleep on her often, slipping out alone in the morning while the mist is still rising from the canal, feeling like I’m one with the dolphins, heron, eagles, manatees and God herself. I never run out of new experiences, but today it was the manatees who gave me a memory I’ll always remember.
Manatees, as the video shows, are these big ole mammals, cousin to the elephant, that I’ve seen swimming around for a few years now. Mostly, you try not to hit them with your boat, they all have scars on their backs from boat propellers, we are their only natural enemy. They don’t move very fast and stay near the surface. They travel in groups, I’ve seen some alone but as many as 12 animals together at times. A couple times fishing, they’ve come up to the swim platform and looked up at me, wondering what I was up to I guess, but that’s the closest I’ve come to an encounter until last Saturday.
Last week, I was hanging off the back of Amie when a manatee decided to swim under my feet, I was suddenly standing on something in 25 feet of water. WEIRD! But, he swam on by, probably more surprised than I was and leaving me glad these big vegetarians don’t eat legs.
Today, my son was fishing off the bow and I jumped in off the back to cool off when my family said, “There’s a manatee coming your way”.
He sure was.
My new BFF, we’ll call him Marley (they are West Indian), came on over and spent some time visiting and brought the family! Marley swam under the boat and right up to me, circling me two or three times and then settling in right next to me for a while. He came up for air inches from my face and looked up at me with an eye that showed an intelligence I’d only seen before when I looked at an elephant in the zoo.
Marley hung around circling me now and then, staring at me and occasionally putting his big ole snout in spots only my neighbors dog does, we were having quality bonding. After a bit, two of his friends showed up, we realized after a while, it was Momma and Baby Marley, just as curious and fearless, they looked at me with kindness in their eyes and I think I heard the baby:
“Can we keep him Momma?”
“Well, he’s big enough to be one of us, but he’s so damn ugly.”
The cool thing about this, at least to me, was how natural this was. I didn’t go to some fenced off part of a spring or a zoo. I was in these 800 pound animals’ habitat, dangling off the end of a boat, just trying to cool off when these curious giants took a detour to come and visit, to check me out.
The “large” family all examined me, each making eye contact before they determined I was of no importance, that I wasn’t going to join their clan, and they swam off, no doubt wondering what fell of the boat and couldn’t get back on… I was left with a visit I’ll never forget.
I love my boat, I love the baby dolphins that I’ve seen grow into young adults, the stingrays that swim by, the sunrises through the rear hatch, the time with my family, and I know I’ll always remember the encounter I had today, it was very special.
2 Comments
June 21, 2009 at 1:32 am
I appreciate hearing about your memorable ‘aquatic’ manatee encounter. Made me remember my own, and how long it’s been since the last one. Very inspired to create another one. Have a lovely day.
June 21, 2009 at 1:33 am
yes, it was really cool that you, james and i saw the gentle giants stick their noses up and eye us curiously. what an amazing afternoon.