On a recent trip to Naples, Florida with an old schoolmate, we decided that we had to go
dolphin
watching, as they are such graceful creatures. And there was no end of
companies offering those tours.
I chose Banana Boat tour company, for, guess
what? Their brochure said that if you did not see any dolphins, you would get a
free ticket to do the tour another day.
Well, if that did not sell me on the
company, when they mentioned that we might also see
manatees, they had my
business right away.
You see, I had fallen in love with manatees many decades ago and had longed
to get close to them again.
That encounter was at a place called Alligator Hole in central
Jamaica.
This is the name of a conservation area there (I dont know why for we have no alligators in Jamaica, just crocs!), where a family of near-extinct
manatees were being cared for.
This was a nuclear family with two young calves. I had visited with my two young children and was overwhelmed when the keeper said
we could swim with the manatees!
And swim we did, even playing with the gentle animals.
I can never forget that inspiring experience and although I know it can never
be replicated, have always wanted to see manatees up close again.
So, although the company is based in Cape Coral, around 30 miles from
where were staying, to me the guarantee plus the possibility of seeing manatees close up, more than sealed the deal.
The boat was skippered by captain JR and captain Anya. Anya
said she was from Germany but relocated to Florida to be closer to dolphins so
she could study them.
Once on board, captain JR explained that we would most likely not see manatees on that trip because of the high tide. But can you believe that as we headed up Caloosa Canal, towards San Carlos Bay before reaching the massive Hotchi River, a huge manatee surfaced?
It was quite large, about 10 feet long. As we hung around excitedly, another appeared. We were informed that we could wait for them to reappear soon, as they needed to come up for air every 4 or 5 minutes. We did.
Although we never got too close to them, I could feel my heart rate soaring to new heights right along with my level of excitement, every time one surfaced.
After some twenty minutes or so, we headed out into the Hotchi river to see the graceful dolphins. And we surely did see singles, pairs and even a mother and child. Both captain JR and Anya provided us wth a world of information about these creatures and their lifestyles, as we moved around slowly and stopped, based on where they would surface and disappear quickly. There were quite a few boaters around, but many were speeding carelessly, which caused the dolphins to have to dive as quickly as they surfaced.
We saw people fishing near Pine Island as dolphins hovered around
hoping to get free food. We took a trip up Pine Island canal where many, including
the Bush’s have vacation homes.
Next, we
headed to Picnic Island where our boat docked for a while so we could
walk around a bit and even swim if we so desired. However, as the water was
brown in color, so I certainly did not.
There are many small islands/cays between San Carlos Bay and Sanibel
island (close to the Gulf of Mexico) and one rookery we passed by was teeming with pelicans of all sizes
and shapes. We learnt a lot about their lifestyles from our captains and even
drew close to another cay where eagles had set nest.
That eco tour far exceed our expectations and made the extra miles we had to travel to get there, more than worth the effort.
MEMORIES
A horde of pelicans
A pair of eagles that have built their nest on the cay
View from Caloosa Canal
Joan Williams, author - YouTube can be contacted at gratestj@gmail.com
At one point, while inside the scientific center, we saw a few on the live loop
camera feed, but by the time we rushed outside, they had vanished.
