Morning Manatee kisses - a photo on Flickriver

            What an absolute blessing it was when shortly after dropping anchor, my friend Kent calmly said, “there’s a manatee.”  It was just after daybreak and the suns morning light was still skipping across the clear surface waters of Silver Glen, not yet providing views of the depths below.  One after another, at least seven manatees came out of the darkness and were surrounding the boat now in a very slow but tightly knit procession. Hugging the starboard side at the stern, they slowly proceeded to the bow, turned hard left and came right back down our port side. For the first time in many years I was engulfed in a wildlife encounter so amazing that I did not want to whiteness it through my cameras viewfinder. My camera could not to be laid aside though, as I held it to the side of my head and snapped away and tried to maintain my desire to jump in and feel thin amongst them, if even for a moment.

Midway along the port side, one of the adults looked up through the darkness as if curiosity demanded a better look at the humans above. Instinctually, I bent down extending my hand toward the water to touch this magnificent creature. Touch apparently was not what this blessing was about as the manatee simply and slowly reversed away from my undesired forwardness. 

They stayed in the proximity of our boat for a few minutes, then seemingly headed east and out into Lake George. As they exited the glen, and with may cameras viewfinder back where it belongs, I noticed a pair breaking the surface. At this angle and being ignorant of manatee behavior, I will call it a kiss as it was slow, seemed meaningful, intentional (unlike a collision) exchange of affection. But I must also add that it could possibly be a Lady and the Tramp spaghetti moment over a piece of vegetation, as I certainly do not know for sure. 

God knows our hearts and our heads…us, as our creator.  I thank Him for the encounter shared above and this past weekend. Gifts received, much needed and deeply appreciated.

Taken on: April 11, 2018

Tags:

Manatee

kisses

Silver

Glen

Sunrise

Lake

George

WOW

Dattilo

Nature

Wildlife

Interaction

Pair

Mammals

Canon

EOS

MarkII

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18-400mm « less

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Camera: Canon EOS 7D Mark II, f/20.0, 1/320 sec, 200mm, ISO 2500 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 7D Mark II
Lens:	TAMRON 18-400mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD B028
Aperture:	f/20.0
Exposure Time:	0.003 sec (1/320)
Focal Length:	200mm
ISO:	2500
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.7 (Macintosh)
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