It's vacation time, so this is the story of my vacation
with Robbie......
It begins with the rest of his family...
Jackie and Neal are very involved in their local YMCA.
Every year at the annual fund raising party, they join
in the bidding. This year Jackie decided to start the
bidding on a catamaran trip in the Caribbean with
the hope that it would just be a beginning bid and
someone else would bid it up, but she was
the only one who put in a bid so she got it!
Sooo...Jackie and Neal spent their vacation on a
catamaran in the Caribbean diving...NICE!
with Robbie......
It begins with the rest of his family...
Jackie and Neal are very involved in their local YMCA.
Every year at the annual fund raising party, they join
in the bidding. This year Jackie decided to start the
bidding on a catamaran trip in the Caribbean with
the hope that it would just be a beginning bid and
someone else would bid it up, but she was
the only one who put in a bid so she got it!
Sooo...Jackie and Neal spent their vacation on a
catamaran in the Caribbean diving...NICE!
Kayla was in Europe. She was one of the twenty-five high schoolstudents in Sarasota County to be chosen for the People to
People Ambassador Program. She spent two weeks traveling
through France and England learning about how the histories
of our countries are interwoven, as well as spending time with
the 'native' children her own age.
and sooooo.......
I figured since the rest of Robbie's family was out
having fun, that he and I should have some too!
I have always wanted to swim with the manatees, and I
thought Robbie would enjoy it too, so we headed off to
Crystal River.
I thought it would be fun for him to navigate to Crystal
River, so I handed him the map and let him figure
out how to get there. He did a great job!
Early the next morning we went to the Dive Shop and rented
some wet suits, bought some underwater cameras, and
headed down Crystal River in search of manatees.
thought Robbie would enjoy it too, so we headed off to
Crystal River.
I thought it would be fun for him to navigate to Crystal
River, so I handed him the map and let him figure
out how to get there. He did a great job!
Early the next morning we went to the Dive Shop and rented
some wet suits, bought some underwater cameras, and
headed down Crystal River in search of manatees.
A unique boat in front of someones house
Robbie with tour boat
Niki with tour boat
A picture of Robbie at the entrance of Three Sisters Spring
Niki getting ready to enter the spring
Three Sisters Springs is a spring that runs into Crystal River.It is usually full of manatees, but the entrance to the spring
was jam packed with boats. The temperature hit 100 Saturday
and EVERYONE was at the spring! The few manatees
that hadn't headed out for the warm summer water
of the Gulf were intimidated by all of the boats, so
there were none to be found. However the beauty of
the springs was amazing...it just felt good to swim
around and enjoy it!
Years ago Clyde had photographed Three Sisters from land, so
it was fun to see it from the water. There is a tiny entrance that
is large enough to swim or kayak through, then it opens up
into three pools of turquoise water...paradise!
Robbie resting inside Three Sisters SpringsFinding manatees in the wild during the summer is hard.
The water everywhere in Florida is so warm that they
have no need to congregate at fresh water springs to keep
warm. During the winter they arrive at Crystal Springs to
keep warm in very large amounts and are very accustomed to
humans. But during the summer they spread out and
are very few and far between, so I promised Robbie that
we'd return to Crystal River again this winter and try again!
But we had a lot of fun anyway. It was so much fun swimming
with him...and the water...wow! It is so beautiful and clear!
After our day of swimming around looking for manatees, we
jumped in the pool at the hotel and swam some more!
I certainly slept good that night!
The next morning I gave the map to Robbie and had
him find the route to Homosassa Springs so we could
see a bunch of manatees. Homosassa takes care of
injured manatees.They are contained until they
are well enough to leave.
So...we headed off to Homosassa Springs....
The water everywhere in Florida is so warm that they
have no need to congregate at fresh water springs to keep
warm. During the winter they arrive at Crystal Springs to
keep warm in very large amounts and are very accustomed to
humans. But during the summer they spread out and
are very few and far between, so I promised Robbie that
we'd return to Crystal River again this winter and try again!
But we had a lot of fun anyway. It was so much fun swimming
with him...and the water...wow! It is so beautiful and clear!
After our day of swimming around looking for manatees, we
jumped in the pool at the hotel and swam some more!
I certainly slept good that night!
The next morning I gave the map to Robbie and had
him find the route to Homosassa Springs so we could
see a bunch of manatees. Homosassa takes care of
injured manatees.They are contained until they
are well enough to leave.
So...we headed off to Homosassa Springs....
Homosassa Springs
Robbie with stuffed 'gator...a REALLY big one!
Niki and Robbie
We took the boat trip down the riverto the entrance of the park
View of a manatee through the viewingglass in the sunken room.
Manatee with a carrot in its mouth
a manatee swimming away from us
Robbie watching a manateeIt was a great morning at Homosassa Springs. It
was hot and the water looked oh so very good. We
decided we needed to go for a swim, so I handed the
map to Robbie and told him to find Weeki Watchee
and tell me how to get there...
and we were off to Weeki Watchee Springs
home of the famous mermaids...
Weekie Watchee Mermaids
Robbie coming down the slide...
The color of the water is real! It isn't a swimmingpool, but fresh spring water with a white sand
bottom...incredible! ...and, VERY cold...well, to
us Floridians it is cold. Temperature is around 72.
The masses at Weekie Watchee...but then with recordbreaking temperatures this is a great place to be!
We had a great time together and we are both looking
forward to spending some more time have adventures
together in the future...he's a great kid!
