Seeing Manatees near Port Canaveral?

[jtjcwise]

I read somewhere about a place near the port where Manatees can be seen in the wild, but cannot find where I read this at. Does anyone know where This might be and how to get there?

 

[joanb]

WE saw them in April. You go past the port a mile or so and turn right at the light by the Raddison -I think it is the second stop sign-end of road and go left and it is on the right. A small park with observation decks. Very nice.

 

[Firegoalie23]

I believe it is called Blue Springs State Park

 

[snelsonbrown]

Hello there,
the park you are looking for is called Manatee Park and it is located right behind the Radisson = you take the road between Zackery's and Ractrac down to the end, turn left and you are right there (it is all residential now)- there has been a lot of scub diving in the area plus a great deal of construction which has kept the mantees away, but we are hoping they will come back if they haven't already - its a nice park for picnics etc.
If I can help, just drop me a note at snelsonbrown@aol.com
Always
Shirley

 

[FFerret]

thanks for posting this--I'm taking notes

 

[jtjcwise]

Thanks to all the repsonses.

 

[lilo62]

WOW! Me and my DH will have to check this out next year before we sail again!

 

[ganurse]

blue springs is in deland florida but it is a wonderful place

 

[CRSNDSNY]

We've never seen them -- only dolphins -- but WOW, that would be an amazing site to see. They are beautiful and graceful creatures.

 

[Verandah Man]

We were at the Manatee Park near the port in April, but all I saw was a scuba divers class taking place.

My mom lives in Deland, Florida where Blue Springs State Park is located, I have been to Blue Springs on several occasions and have always seen many manatees there. Deland is about a 90 minute drive from the Port Canaveral area.

 

[MandyMommytoReaghan]

Yippie! I would love to see the Manatees and I am adding that to my notebook. Thanks for the directions!

 

[joanb]

If I could figure out how to paste my photos you could see one. They aren't always there, but usually in spring as it is mating season. They were at least 50+ there on April 21, 2005. The guy at DCL we talked to said his son lived on the river and saw them.

 

[cotomom]

We were just there for the repo cruise. Just a FYI, it is a little bit of a walk behind the Radisson. Not "just behind" as I kinda thought from Dave's website. Totally walkable, but just note you have to walk 'around' a housing development to get to it.

Unfortunately we didn't see any, but only were able to stay about 1/2 hour to look. They do have a nice statue of them and a sign to at least get your picture with!

 

[Verandah Man]

If I could figure out how to paste my photos you could see one. They aren't always there, but usually in spring as it is mating season. They were at least 50+ there on April 21, 2005. The guy at DCL we talked to said his son lived on the river and saw them.
http://webpages.charter.net/doctorfro/manatee.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]


Man, I was there on April 23, 2005 for over an hour and didn't see a one. Maybe the scuba divers scared them away that morning? After spending time at the park we went to Shirley's shop, I told her about seeing the five scuba divers in the river, and she was quite shocked by this news.