It's the time of year to see manatees and we saw one today! Cold water brings them in. Today the water temperature off the beach was seventy-two while the water temperature at the boat channel was seventy. The vis off the beach was fifteen feet, quite a bit better than the eight or nine feet at the boat channel. We saw the manatee just off the beach by the seawall that leads over to the fishing pier. I took several pictures of it as it appeared to be in no hurry even though I was on SCUBA rather than snorkeling. When we have seen manatees in the swimming area during our 300 yard snorkel/swim, they have been very tolerant of our presence. When we have seen them while on SCUBA they have been much more skitterish. During the snorkel/swim I saw a seahorse and a bandtail searobin. Between the seawall and the first set of pilings there was a good-sized flying gurnard. What a great day! The air temperature was in the sixties and we had little or no breeze meeting us at our exit. It's a fabulous time of year to see the manatees. Get in the water, Ham
