- Jul 19, 2001
- 38,572
- 2
- 91
So im out at Fort Desoto camping this weekend with some friends. We had been out the day before Kayak fishing most of the day and ran into a handful of manatees and dolphins. The dolphins usually avoid coming too close, but the manatees love to come up right next to the kayak and sniff out our bait buckets.
Anyway, so this morning were out fishing again for one last time before packing it up and as we turn to head in a huge ass manatee surfaced right below my kayak, then proceeded to freak out because it didn't expect me there. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it seemed like it immediately dove back down and swatted its tail to get some moderate speed (they are still incredibly slow). So not only did i get knocked sideways from it surfacing below, but then it swatted its tail right at my kayak knocking me back the other way and almost tipping me over, sending a plume of water a good 10-15 feet in the air followed by some nice rapids left behind. Amazingly I stayed upright, albeit a bit freaked out.
Sea cows are cute, but man they sure can scare the crap out of you sometimes.
Anyway, so this morning were out fishing again for one last time before packing it up and as we turn to head in a huge ass manatee surfaced right below my kayak, then proceeded to freak out because it didn't expect me there. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it seemed like it immediately dove back down and swatted its tail to get some moderate speed (they are still incredibly slow). So not only did i get knocked sideways from it surfacing below, but then it swatted its tail right at my kayak knocking me back the other way and almost tipping me over, sending a plume of water a good 10-15 feet in the air followed by some nice rapids left behind. Amazingly I stayed upright, albeit a bit freaked out.
Sea cows are cute, but man they sure can scare the crap out of you sometimes.
