Manatee viewing nearby?

[bobbiwoz]

We have gone to Blue Springs State Park many times, now I would like to find another place within an hour's(+-) drive from Orlando to see manatees. Homassassa Springs SP is too far for the time we have, roughly from 10:30AM and we have to be back for a 5:00 ADR at Le Cellier. Does anyone know of another place to see manatees in the wild? We'll have 3 grandchildren, 5, 7 and 8 with us, so if there's a visitor's center or some activities that would be great.

Thanks.
Bobbi

 

[eeyorethegreat]

We went to Merritt Island at KSC and saw manatees.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Thank you! I looked at their web site and it's just what we were looking for!

 

[cindyland]

I understand there's a season to see the manatees close to Orlando area. When does that end? We'll be there end of March so I'm wondering if it's worth making a trip somewhere to see them...

 

[JANNYANS]

The power station at Tampa has a manatee veiwing centre .It is free and open up until April 15th.

http://www.tampaelectric.com/manatee/

 

[eeyorethegreat]

http://www.savethemanatee.org/info_manatee_migration.html

 

[bobbiwoz]

I understand there's a season to see the manatees close to Orlando area. When does that end? We'll be there end of March so I'm wondering if it's worth making a trip somewhere to see them...

My spring break is around March 19th every year. It's often too warm then for manatees to be in Blue Springs SP, but sometimes we see 1 or 2. We made a trip there last January and there were over 100 in the same area.This year our trip will be NYE week.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Is the state park worth a trip - I had pencilled in a day to drive there this trip? Any tips for us?

 

[bobbiwoz]

Is the state park worth a trip - I had pencilled in a day to drive there this trip? Any tips for us?

If you're asking about Blue Springs SP, well, I think it's definitely worth it. There's a small gift shop/refreshment area, there a boardwalk to the source of the Blue Springs and if you can catch one of the talks by a naturalists, you'll learn a lot about the manatees.

According to the site when they counted manatees this morning, there were 124 in the spring.

There's also a vendor who does boat trips on the St. Johns river and we've done that a few times. There's a historical home on site to tour.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/bluespring/default.cfm

We've been there at least 10 times over the years, and we just want to go somewhere else this year.

Bobbi

 

[bobbiwoz]

Something else about Blue Springs. It's the spring that our adopted manatee, Brutus usually heads for in cold weather. (Brutus has many many friends who have adopted him through Save the Manatee Club. http://www.savethemanatee.org/ ) Some of the manatees have identification marks, (often from boat accidents) and Blue Springs lists the identified manatees who were there that day. If Brutus happens to be there, say Hi! He's 35 years old...a big ole guy!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Thank you - I am really looking forward to our trip there now

Forgot to say - I will look out for Brutus when we go!

 

[Orlando Vic]

Is the state park worth a trip - I had pencilled in a day to drive there this trip? Any tips for us?

Call first and ask a ranger if any manatee are "in". If not, you may save yourself an unnecessary trip. I would imagine that earlier rather than later in the day is better because the parking lot (and the park) may reach capacity on those cold days when the manatee flock to the warmer water in the run.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Going to Merritt Island to see manatees was a bust for us the weekend of December 11-12th. Manatees are more likely to be there in the spring and fall. The water was too cold already,

We'll be heading for Blue Springs SP next week.

Bobbi

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

We visited Blue Spring State Park on the 22nd and saw lots of manatees - we really enjoyed our visit to the park. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Orlando Vic]

We visited Blue Spring State Park on the 22nd and saw lots of manatees - we really enjoyed our visit to the park. Thanks for the advice.

Glad you saw something of the "real" Florida. Your timing was perfect.