Friday afternoon Manatee dump

Chasing me down so he could get a closer look

Manatees are really friendly, and if you don't crowd them or go right up to them, they will usually come up to you. Sometimes they will even follow you. Every now and then I will see a tourist paddling frantically trying to get away from one because all they saw was the nose sticking out the water. People that aren't familiar with them sometimes think it's a gator snout sticking out of the water and coming at them.
Here's a link to the original, full length video https://youtu.be/9GWvmRbtxGg

Curious sea cows, view from above and below

I love the way the manatee in the bottom half of the screen looks like he's staring at the camera and working things out. The video on the lower half of the screen was taken with a camera mounted on the bottom of the canoe.

As soon as he spotted me he swam up to me at full speed

When I spotted this manatee today, he was cruising along with another manatee and as soon as he saw me, he made a hard turn and swam up to the canoe really fast. This video isn't speed up.
Here's a link to the original video showing more of the encounter, https://youtu.be/M6kSMhiWujQ

Double barrel snot gun

I was glad he didn't do this while he was facing me.
When he swam up to the line, none of the other manatees expected him to shatter the previous record of 11 tails.

Curious Sea Cows

These manatees came up to the canoe and spent a long time checking it out. They have small eyes but can see very well. When they go under your canoe or kayak, it's a good idea not to make any fast moves that will startle them. As long as you don't startle them, they won't tip you.

And just in case you came here to see an actual manatee dump...