A prolonged chill in the air. Snow in the northern part of the state? Burr! Is this Florida? Our manatees must be saying “This is NOT what we signed up for!”
Yes, the warm natural freshwater springs, like Three Sisters Springs, are about 72 degrees Fahrenheit year round. But manatees are marine mammals and must surface to breathe. Air temperatures in the 20s, 30s and low 40s can quickly cool surrounding waters near the springs. During the colder days manatees may be cautious about taking too many frequent breaths as very low temperatures can chill snouts. If you have seen ariel photographs of manatees tightly packed around the warm springs, this is what the sea cows are dealing with. And this is why Three Sisters Spring’s snorkeling water access is closed for the manatees only when the water temperature gets colder. Alternatively, above water viewing is available throughout the year via the Three Sisters Spring’s Boardwalk.
Currently, as of today, January 28th, Florida is on a warming trend! Anyone who is familiar with manatees can almost “feel” their relief as manatees can now spread out more.
Three Sisters Springs will open when the cool water temperatures have warmed past a certain threshold and are no longer a concern as manatees can come and go as they please. There have been a handful of days when the clearer water springs have been open to in-water manatee observation this season. I thought you might like to see a few current photographs and a short video. These are left over from a couple of manatee projects I’m working on. It is truly amazing how resilient Florida springs, like Three Sisters, are! She is still lovely, even after facing the last few potent tropical systems in 2023 and 2024. Let me show you:
Manatees enter Three Sisters Springs, Jan. 2, 2025.
Sometimes, an uninvited guest is helping themselves to the richness of Three Sisters Springs. In this case it’s a cormorant photobombing my manatee photo composition! Don’t get me wrong, I love birds and seeing cormorants underwater. I just wish he had announced himself first so I could have upped my camera shutter speed. Those birds swim fast, like a torpedo!
A cormorant photobombs my manatee moment, Jan 2, 2025.
Here’s another manatee arrival. I can’t wait till water temperatures moderate and we can visit the springs again!
A manatee enters the blue waters of Three Sisters Springs. Sometimes the spring’s water is more of an aqua color, but this day it was blue, Jan. 2, 2025.
Here’s an example from December 30, 2024 of the spring water changing shades. A little earlier Big Sister Spring has strong sunlight and that combined with the water levels give the scene a more aqua tone. A little later blue water prevails over the same spring inside Three Sisters. It’s all about the sunlight and how much spring water is pumping out as opposed to external water filtering into Three Sisters Springs with the tide.
A mother manatee and her adorable calf over Big Sister Spring Dec. 30, 2024.
A little later, blue water prevails. There’s nothing like a manatee basking in the blue, December 30, 2024.
To end with here’s a short video that showcases several manatees enjoying the treasured Three Sisters Springs on November 26, 2024, a couple of days before Thanksgiving.
That’s all for now. I’ll try not to let it be so long between manatee posts again. My dear, kind husband Theo, passed away a couple of years ago and the thing I found hardest was reaching out again. After spending nearly a third of a century with someone that shift can be jarring to say the least. But I’m lucky I still get to see the beloved manatees and my two kitties, Twinkles and Star, are a constant delight!
I hope you enjoyed this current peek into the springs. Notice how Florida’s environment can quickly mend itself. When I paused this blog, I was writing about and photographing aquatic grass restoration. I’ll share my photographs and observations on the impact of several recent tropical systems on the eelgrass restorations in a future post.
Later, Carol Grant –– Oceangrant.com
