Tag: Save Crystal River

As the boat meanders through the bay, my guide and captain debate locations to check for manatees. They rattle off familiar ones we might run into—Greased Lightning, Penny Pockmark—named and remembered by the map of scars across their backs. Finally, we stop in a small cove flanked by docks and residential houses. I lower myself into the drink, and my teeth instantly begin to chatter. As I duck under the surface, I see more than two dozen manatees gather by a small spring and graze on seagrass, elephantine mermaids without a care in the world.