Wakulla Spring boils to the surface just south of Tallahassee. The water stays at a constant 70 degrees all year round. Last year some manatees made their way up the Wakulla River to the vicinity of the spring and stayed for the winter. They are back this year.

I took my 2 year old grandson to see them yesterday. This one just hung around the dive tower all morning, so we got to get a good look at him. When a snorkeler got in the water the manatee immediately went to check him out. He was probably wondering what in the world an otherwise sentient being was doing in 70 degree water. Everyone on the dive tower was joking that he was probably telling the guy how goofy he looked wearing a Speedo.

That is very cool.  Like the picture with the snorkler, gives good perspective as to how big they are.  That is neat.

Wow,  awesome pictures.  Thanks for sharing.

How cool is that?! Thanks for sharing.

This is cool. I'll have to take Jackson there this weekend.

Very cool!!!  They have come all the way up to Mobile Bay for the past several years  

These manatees are pretty much trapped at the springs for the winter.  They come up the river where the temperature stays constant and, if they don't leave the river early enough, the Gulf gets too cold for them.  

The same thing happens to manatees who go up into canals at power generating stations.  They get stuck there for the winter and the electric company can not shut the units down for maintenance during the winter for fear of killing the manatees.

One good thing about the manatees coming up into the Wakulla River is that they eat hydrilla.

I saw one in the wild about 4 years ago. Was staying with the family at Panama City and we were waiting for breakfast to finish when we see a lot of commotion out on the beach. A sheriff's jeep was driving down the sand and a sheriff was out walking keeping people away from the water. Went to look and saw a large shadow. First thought was it was a shark. Then as it gets out in front of the room can tell that it's a large manatee. Awesome pictures by the way  

That is way cool! Thanks 8-)