Since I've been here there have been sightings and interactions with a manatee down at the hotel beach. But not by me, so I'm on a mission. Yesterday I went down early in the morning, when I got back from the hospital, and in the evening before I went to dinner. When I got back from dinner a storm was brewing and I went via the beach to try my luck. There was a bloke there watching the storm come in, we got to chatting and conversation turned to the manatee. He must have been a marine biologist or something. As sheet lightning lit up the sky and thunder rolled across the night I wondered aloud if manatees seek some kind of shelter in storms. In his southern drawl he said "they go deep in a storm, like most other fish".
Despite the manatee's elusiveness, I have enjoyed plenty of wildlife sightings around the hotel grounds, so a very good choice.
Today I spent most of the morning snorkelling around the sea grass in the bay where sightings had been made the day before, while the manatee apparently snuck around the place behind my back. After a couple of hours and no sighting I paddled back to the beach and was told some people had seen it go past and head into the lagoon about 20 minutes before. So I snorkelled up the lagoon until it got to feeling a bit like gator country, came back ungratified and went to lunch at 2, after about 4 hours in the water.
Just for 1 hour, and when I came back the guy who'd also been down at the beach all morning regaled me with stories of the hour he spent playing with the manatee while I was gone! Verified by other witnesses. I saw one fleeting pass underwater after that, while I was still on land, and then despite another couple of hours in the water I have still not come close. Tomorrow I have 4 dives booked so not likely. I will have one more chance the afternoon of the next day, after a morning of diving. Fingers crossed!
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