Fri, Jan 12 2024 - Sixth Annual: In search of Manatees in Florida’s Spring Fed Rivers!! (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Allston Participants: Allston, Katherine Bennett, Greg Pharo, Lisa B, Jeff G, Beth Ash, Katie B, pan

After losing some participants to winter illness at the last minute, the remaining 8 of us had a great weekend enjoying Florida's gorgeous spring-fed rivers. Temperatures were a little chillier this year, but the good news about that is it meant the manatees were all up river in the springs, and we saw more of them this year than in all prior years combined!

In addition to our three paddles, a few of us visited Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park, where we saw dozens, if not hundreds, of manatees enjoying the warmer water. We even got a special bonus treat of seeing them only inches away, in the underwater viewing observatory. 

Depite not-so-great weather forecasts leading up to our trip, we only experienced about five minutes of actual rain on Monday, during our paddle on Silver Springs River, and that rain happened while the sun was shining! The rest of the weekend was a mix of overcast and partly sunny days, which worked out just fine.

Along with all of the manatees, our group saw alligators, tons of turtles, a huge variety of birds and very fat, healthy looking fish. Overall, it was a very fun trip!