Visiting Manatee Springs State Park in Florida
Florida State Parks
We didn’t get to visit near as many of the Florida State Parks as I would have liked while we were here for the month of December, but I am so glad we visited Manatee Springs State Park in Chiefland. By visiting in the winter month of December, we were fortunate enough to see wild Manatees just off the dock in the Suwannee River.
There was a family of three swimming around in the river at the end of the boardwalk. We stayed for over an hour watching and filming and taking lots of photos. What a pleasure it was to watch these gentle giants slowly roll around in the water swimming, wrestling, and eating. They were far enough away that we were not able to get good photos of them close up down in the water, but we believe one of them was smaller and could have been young.
The manatees in Florida are West Indian Manatees, also known as the North American Manatee. They are not endangered yet, but are vulnerable as their population is decreasing each year and they are protected under federal law. The best time to see them in Florida is during the winter months when they migrate south to the warmer spring waters.
