I just came back from a wonderful, relaxing, rejuvenating few days at a cabin in Blue Spring State Park. I got to hike in the woods, swim and float down the stream from the spring. And had a really magical moment with my husband at dusk one day after the park closed to day visitors - we were walking down a path in the woods and to our right and left there was what looked like a carpet of blinking lights - almost like fairies playing in the woods. They were fireflies, but none of them were above ankle height.
There were two manatees there who had recently been released from Sea World and did not migrate out of Blue Spring with the rest of the manatees this spring (the manatees stay in blue spring during the cold months until the river water heats up), so the rangers had their hands full keeping people away from them. Rocket and Annie are always together. They are so adorable.
You can see their floating transmitters in the photo above – the rangers are hopeful that people will keep their distance, even though Annie will approach YOU – she loves people and has been in captivity most of her life. Rocket is a little more leery of us humans.
Annie was an orphan picked up in the Halifax River near Port Orange in August 2005. And Rocket was rescued as an orphan from Blue Spring in March 2006. Annie was only 70 pounds at the time. Rocket weighed 170 pounds. After recuperating at Sea World, they were released at the park in February. By that time, they had gained just a bit of weight! Annie was about 1,055 pounds, and Rocket weighed 745 pounds on the day of their release.
We are hoping that Annie and Rocket will survive us humans and maybe join with their own kind next year. And for now, back to work - I hope everyone gets to have a little time off this year to refresh and re-energize!
