One week in Florida, as some of you might know I often think of Florida as my second home. My husband is from Florida which is where we first met. So at least once a year we come down here to visit is family.
It is not a hard trip to take for someone who lives in Canada. Florida has a lot to offer for nature and sun hungry Northerners. My Husband’s family lives in Crystal River on the west coast of Florida.
Crystal River is the part of Florida known as the Nature Coast and is one of the best places to swim with manatees. When the temperature in the Gulf of Mexico starts to drop in the winter, manatees seek the warmer water coming from the freshwater springs in the area. The springs have a constant temperature of 72°F or 22°C.
It is a good thing to be with someone from the area who knows where to find them and how to best be in the water with them and not break the law. (They are protected, I promise I will have a post later on how to swim with manatees)
This is some of our highlights of our trip so far.
My husband took this image on Wednesday, when he and our daughter were swimming together. The manatee came right up to them and touched my daughter’s hand. She said it felt “seaweedy”. (manatees get a coating of algae growing on them when they are in fresh water) Pretty cool experience for a five year old. I think it gave her two-day visit to Disney World a run for its money.
It is best to discover the river by boat or canoe. I’m lucky our family has a pontoon boat.
We always have to make sure we have time for mud pie (in Florida it’s more like sand pie)
We like to watch Pelicans when in Florida
Baby’s first time being on the Beach
Lunch fresh shrimps right from the boat prepared on the beach
