All photos at Blue Springs State ParkWednesday 1/14/09
Ever since we have entered Florida waters we have been experiencing “Manatee Zone – Slow Speed” signs on a daily basis. We always obey and reduce boat speed to a crawl from our normal “slow walk” pace, and look for Manatees, the large, docile and much protected mammals. We have never seen a Manatee. We learned that they are very sensitive to water temperature and during cooler weather periods congregate at places where they can bask in 72-75 degree waters. We were told there is a state park (Blue Spring) off the St. John’s River near Deland, FL where Manatees can be found this time of year, so off we went
. Deland is only about 30 miles from NSB so we jumped in the KIA and headed west to find the Manatees. They were there.
Blue Spring is a neat little park centered around the natural spring that gushes out millions of gallons of fresh, clear, pure 72 degree water every minute (or hour – I don’t remember) and they have a wooden walk way constructed along the creek, so you can observe the Manatees. There were plenty of them to observe – they just kind of lay there on the bottom and slowly drift around looking for vegetation to munch on. They are big and docile and friendly looking creatures and we saw a few that had scars on their backs apparently from boat prop incidents. Hence the “SLOW SPEED” zones. We spent an hour or so
watching the Manatees then drove around Deland a bit before heading back to the marina. 
On the way we saw a large flea market set up on a fair ground along Rt. 44 so we stopped in. There were hundreds of vendors selling everything fruits and vegetables to used washing machines.
Back at the boat we started packing the bikes and our clothes into the car to get ready for an early AM departure for our drive to Marathon. It seemed strange to be packing for a vacation from our boat.
Ever since we have entered Florida waters we have been experiencing “Manatee Zone – Slow Speed” signs on a daily basis. We always obey and reduce boat speed to a crawl from our normal “slow walk” pace, and look for Manatees, the large, docile and much protected mammals. We have never seen a Manatee. We learned that they are very sensitive to water temperature and during cooler weather periods congregate at places where they can bask in 72-75 degree waters. We were told there is a state park (Blue Spring) off the St. John’s River near Deland, FL where Manatees can be found this time of year, so off we went
. Deland is only about 30 miles from NSB so we jumped in the KIA and headed west to find the Manatees. They were there.Blue Spring is a neat little park centered around the natural spring that gushes out millions of gallons of fresh, clear, pure 72 degree water every minute (or hour – I don’t remember) and they have a wooden walk way constructed along the creek, so you can observe the Manatees. There were plenty of them to observe – they just kind of lay there on the bottom and slowly drift around looking for vegetation to munch on. They are big and docile and friendly looking creatures and we saw a few that had scars on their backs apparently from boat prop incidents. Hence the “SLOW SPEED” zones. We spent an hour or so
watching the Manatees then drove around Deland a bit before heading back to the marina. 
On the way we saw a large flea market set up on a fair ground along Rt. 44 so we stopped in. There were hundreds of vendors selling everything fruits and vegetables to used washing machines.Back at the boat we started packing the bikes and our clothes into the car to get ready for an early AM departure for our drive to Marathon. It seemed strange to be packing for a vacation from our boat.
Polly next to big tree in Blue Springs Park
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