The cold has let up a bit more, 43 overnight headed for 60 this afternoon so we decide to drive up to Fort Myers and visit Manatee Park. This is a really nice park set up on the outfall of a power plant. The waterway stretches about two miles to the Orange River which flows into the Caloosahatchee River. With the warm water from the power plant mixing with the brackish waters of the river, the area has become a natural gathering place for manatees looking to warm up.Since manatees are air breathing warm blooded mammals, they need the warm waters to live and when it gets cold in the Gulf, water temps are currently in the mid 50's vs mid 70's for this time of year, they will travel up the rivers or search out the cooling lagoons of shore based power plants (http://www.savethemanatee.org/manfcts.htm).
Arriving at the park about noon we found a parking spot and joined hundreds of other people lining the shores. We were fortunate to have several naturalists in the crowd who answered questions and showed replicas of manatee flipper bones which strongly resemble hands. Manatees have a large flexible upper lip that acts in many ways like a shortened trunk, somewhat similar to an elephant's. They use the lip to gather food and eat, as well as using it for social interactions and communications.
The adults have no incisor or canine teeth, just a set of cheek teeth, similar to molars. Uniquely among mammals, these teeth are continuously replacd throughout life, with new teeth growing at the rear as older teeth fall out from farther forward in the mouth. Its tail is paddle-shaped and with its two forward flippers is usually slow moving as it forages for plants along the bottom. We spent about 90 minutes along the shore taking photos and visiting with other people before we headed into Fort Myers for lunch, stopping at Taco Bell. Since we were NE of Fort Myers we decided to head back via Fort Myers Beach. Traffic was heavy as we worked our way back down to the coast finally crossing over to Estero Island and the city of Ft Myers Beach. Driving south we pointed out some of tnhe places we visited last year and the Red Coconut RV Park, where we stayed for several weeks.
Since we had the dogs with us we decided to stop and go for a walk on the beach. Shucking our sandals as soon as we got across the dune it was time to go barefoot. Laura immediately went to the water to step into the Gulf! With the sun out and light winds it was quite pleasant as we strolled along looking for shells. There were quite a few people out riding bikes, walking or just hanging out soaking up the rays. We probably walked a mile and a half before turning around and heading back to the car.From Ft Myers Beach we continued south, crossing into Bonita Springs then winding our way down to Vanderbuilt Beach, through Pelican Bay and past the resort condos and highrises. Eventually we got into Naples and back to Rock Creek where we decided to call it a day.
To see all our photos, click on:
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