Visitors can get up close with gentle, giant sea cows

Other animals await
at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

By REBECCA SLOAN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Fla. — When swimming with manatees, don’t make any sudden movements. Be as quiet as possible and never splash. And if you spot a mom manatee with her calf, keep a 15-foot distance.

These are some of the rules visitors to the Homosassa River in Homosassa Springs, Fla., must observe if they wish to don a wet suit and snorkel with the manatees.

These docile, cumbersome creatures, also known as sea cows, flock to the warm waters of the Homosassa River during the winter.

Tourists can swim with them by contacting a local manatee tour company. A ballpark figure for a swim is about $60 per person.

One of the first things you’ll realize about manatees when you get a closer look at them is how graceful they are despite their clumsy appearance.

These gentle giants, which can weigh as much as 3,000 pounds, glide slowly through the water like soaring birds.

Although docile, playful and curious, manatees can do damage if alarmed, so it’s important to follow the designated safety rules.

Never grab onto manatees with both hands, for example, and if you encounter a sleeping manatee, leave it alone.

The Homosassa River is crystal clear, so it’s easy to get a good look at the manatees whether you’re with them in the drink or merely observing them from a boat or on the shore.

By the way, people who want to watch manatees without getting wet can visit Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park and see a manatee show.

During these daily shows, park employees feed manatees some of their favorite treats, which include carrots, sweet potatoes and romaine lettuce. (Manatees are herbivores.)

Many spectators are surprised by how intelligent manatees are. For example, Rosie, one of the park’s resident sea cows, can respond to commands such as, “Would you like another carrot?” by lifting her fat, whiskered snout out of the water and nodding it up and down.

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park has six resident manatees. An underwater fence near Homosassa Spring separates these tame, resident manatees from the wild manatees in the Homosassa River.

Homosassa Springs is the headwater for the Homosassa River, and the spring produces an astounding 2 million gallons of water per hour.

Immersed directly over top of the cavernous, 65-foot-deep spring is an impressive underwater observatory where park visitors can watch manatees through panoramic glass windows.

Tourists will feel as if they’ve stepped into another world in this dim, mysterious underwater chamber where schools of fish dart and shimmer and manatees glide through the deep blue-green water just beyond the glass.

The water that rises from Homosassa Spring is a temperate 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and its warmth is what attracts manatees to the Homosassa River.

“Manatees can’t tolerate temperatures below 65 degrees,” said park service specialist Susan Strawbridge. “We do get wild manatees in the Homosassa River during the summer, but manatees are much more plentiful here from November through March. If you want to swim with them, I recommend coming here during those months.”

Florida manatees are actually West Indian manatees. They are classified as mammals, not fish, and can live to the ripe old age of 60.

Manatees aren’t the only wildlife at Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

Homosassa is home to a plethora of critters including alligators, foxes, snakes, bears, panthers and numerous birds such as flamingos, bald eagles, owls, sand hill cranes, pelicans, egrets and swans.

Throughout the day, free educational programs take place at the park.

At the park’s reptile house, for example, visitors can meet an alarmingly large boa constrictor, a friendly corn snake and a feisty baby alligator.

And during the park’s hippo and alligator show, an announcer introduces the public to a hippopotamus that once starred in Hollywood films and shares some surprising facts about how mother alligators care for their young.

Park visitors can also enjoy a leisurely boat ride down Pepper Creek, a manmade waterway that connects the heart of the park to the visitor’s center.

As the boat floats quietly through the twists and turns of this peaceful creek, a guide tells passengers about the different animals that call Homosassa Springs home as well as the area’s history.

Homosassa Springs has a rich American Indian history, and its tongue-twister of a name comes from the Seminole and Creek languages and means “where the wild peppers grow.”

These “wild peppers” may have actually been holly bushes since hollies once grew in abundance along the banks of the Homosassa River.