Close call in the Thousand Islands

I thought I was going to get really hurt today. The wife and I took the yaks out this morning, went over to the Thousand Islands http://www.advkayak.com/About.html
on the Cocoa Beach side of the Banana river. On our way back we spotted a couple of manatees, so we cruised on over to check them out, but stayed about 40 feet away from them. I even said to the wife, not to get to close to them. So as we sat still, watching this pair “frolicâ€

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TC

Here's a picture of these shameless creatures as they were in the process of making more of their yak bashing kind. How would you like it if your neighbors held an ORGY in your back yard. Sinful and SHAMELESS these animals are....and BIG too!


As you can see by the date, this orgy was over a year ago, but what you don't see is there must have been a hundred of them. As some would leave, others came in to take their place.

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TC

I've been hit on four seperate occassions by these evil beasts. Twice at night. Nothing like trolling along at flank speed in pitch black darkness and then bam you're out of the water in the air, not sure which way is up or what is going on.

Not to mention they bent the front flipper mast and severely damaged my pride as I'm sure the flats boat 100 yards away heard me scream like a girl in Navy language.

I believe they should be added to the fishing regs under open season.

Joe

I hate things that go bump in the night. I'm sure your heart must have been racing. Two different people have told me that they like to rub/scratch their backs against non- barnacle covered things. I don't know how true that is. A guy I work with told me he was in chest deep water working on his dock when one of them came along unseen and started chewing on his swim trunks. I think that'd freak me out...

Yeah, and they are about BUTT UGLY too!

I stepped on a Sting Ray a couple of weeks back whileI was working on my dock. I had been doing the Florida shuffle all day in the same area, going back and forth. Finally said screw it and started stepping through the water. Then I felt the flutter unter my toes, and I too started screaming like a girl. It was like stepping on a land mine and you just knew what was going to happen next. I felt the tail brush against my calf, but fortunately, the barb missed me. I was freaked out none the less.

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TC

We did a guided kayaking trip many years ago in the backwater near Ft. Myers. I saw a manatee near our party and told the group and guide but the manatee went under before they saw him, water was too murkey to see him. The guide scoffed at me, told me how many years he has kayaked these waters, and that there never was and never would be manatees in this section of water. As soon as he finished his tirade, the manatee surfaced under his kayak and almost, but not quite, tipped him over. His face was red for some time and he never said another word about manatees on that trip.

Peter