Manatee Sighted on the Cotee

The Coteegator, a Patch reader, offered us this report on spotting manatee in the Pithlachachascotee River. How could we refuse?

January 28, 2012
from the Cotee River near Grey Preserve

THE MANATEE REPORT:

There were manatees in the river last night (Jan. 27). Two Harbor View residents spotted one manatee from the big fishing pier up in Grey Preserve. Any place that's high above the water like our city park pavilions makes a good place to watch for manatee.

It's unusual to see a solitary manatee, likely we just weren't spotting the others. This one was staying underwater and that happens a lot in the Cotee. Look for a shadow or movement in the water, a little push and ripple that isn't going the same way as the rest of the surface. Sometimes you may see the nose, and the nostrils are huge.

Since my boat has a motor and was upriver of the manatee, I ran at slowest possible idle speed and sometimes just floated on the tide trying to spot the ripples and stay a good distance away. When I turned into our canal, there he was. I stopped, free-floating, and he crossed right under my bow. I believe his underwater motion took my boat with it, and we slowly turned around behind him, it was a very quiet, very cool experience.

He wasn't playing with the boat, that's too much of a compliment to us humans’ activity. Manatees just don't much care if you're there. Perhaps he was curious, about the big object as we were roughly the same size. He's about 4 feet shorter but definitely outweighs my boat even with the motor, me, the dog, and a neighbor kid.

The thing to do if you're in a kayak or small boat and manatees show up, just float and be quiet. If you have to leave, do it carefully. Unfortunately on Florida rivers you'll see conflicting signs defining "manatee speed", and I haven't ever nailed down whether it's 5 mph, 2 mph, no wake, Slow or Idle Speed. In this tiny river, it better to be below idle, as slow as you can possibly run. If you have a choice, a trolling motor is better. Remember there's just no place for an animal
that big to get away from you in such small spaces.

But please don't presume to yell at other people and tell them what you think they should do. Our little river is about manatees first, happy experiences second and people reining in others’enjoyment last.

My thanks to the fishing guys for pointing out the manatee to passing boats and not getting all bossy about it, so we all could have a real good time while the manatee were safe.

Happy paddling, floating, and manatee spotting!

signed, The Coteegator