(no subject)
I am home!
My AKA Gwen Hunter won the RT award!!!!!!!! How cool is that! Sleep Softly was the best in its category for 2008! The awaard ceremony was fun and funny and lasted exactly as long as it should have. Whoowhoo!
And...
I missed my mattress, my kitchen, fresh veggies, my pantry (hate to cook with so few condiments and I never take enough in the RV). LOL. The things we miss on the road.... Of course we vacated while traveling.
Here's a recap of one morning after the event...
Once I got over my usual panic at trying to use a snorkel (which activates my hidden, challenged, oft-confronted, always defied, but always returning fears of drowning) I swam with the manatees. They came to us for play. Wild animals wanting to be near humans. So weird. They are gentle and amazing. And they are HUGE BTW!
First sighting and swim was just after dawn when they are still sleepy and lazy and even the adults are in a good mood. There were four in a mating pod, three males wooing a female at dawn, but they wanted a good morning scratch under their fins and throats and along their bellies (the hubby said, “Well, who doesn’t…”) before they started in on amorous foreplay. One of them wrapped fins around hubby and looked him right in the eyes and hugged him. Had to be the lady manatee, and I can’t say I blame her.
They got tired of us after a while and they left, swimming after me (which was weird because I was just off by myself at that point swimming.) They rose up under me one at time in a long line, scooting their bodies along mine as we swam. It was … bizarre. The dive guide was yelling, “Did they swim with you???” And I was gasping, “Yeah, they did. It was awesome! It was freaky but it was awesome.”
Then we found a playful 2 yr juvenile in a different location. It was six feet long. Mama manatee (like 12 feet long) checked us out, decided we were okay to baby-sit her baby, and left him with us for over an hour. She went off to eat. Seriously. Baby would swim after us rolling over and over and asking to bump us or for scratching. He’d get up in a diver’s face and study him. Then gently tap faces.
Lastly, we went to one of the springheads for the Crystal River and swam (fins and snorkels) hard upstream into crystal clear water to the Three Sisters Spring Head which is in a…well, a grotto buried in the swamp. Here we swam with the cormorants. Okay - that’s my morning. And yes it is unbelievable. Just freaking wonderful. I loved it!
Anyone want to swim with the manatees in Florida, I recommend Bird's Underwater in Crystal Bay. I'll be putting up a video of the manatee event (I hope) soon.
Great people!
More on how I used this in my writing on my blog from yesterday at www.magicalwords.net
Faith