Wildlife: a bird, a manatee, and three Daves

I was going to write an uneventful post this morning.  We took our 6-mile walk and I did not take the big camera.  Just didn't want to carry it.  Wouldn't you know, we saw two loggerhead turtles, some dolphins, a few eagle rays, and a mess of tarpon.....none of which were captured on camera.  <smacks her palm to forehead> What was I thinking?!?!?!

However, we did have a very pretty visitor on Virginia Dare Thursday morning, a green heron (mistakenly thought it was a tri-color on Thursday, but it is indeed a green heron).

Lovely plumage!  <wink>  It was hiding in the shade (shadow).  I usually don't use a flash, but in order to see the colors, I turned it on for this one.

Hanging out on the stern line

Curious, but not afraid.

The bird flew away when it saw our two friends walking down the dock :)

Friends from northern Michigan came for a visit!

It was pretty hot (very humid and low 80s), so we decided to dinghy around the corner and paddleboard.  However, there were hundreds of jellyfish, so we bagged that idea pretty quickly :(

Fun in the sun -- taking a ride through all the boats in Boot Key Harbor

:)

It was Hooper's birthday, so we celebrated in style with Key Lime Pie.  Happy Birthday, Hooper!!  Thanks for spending your birthday with us!

3 Daves: Hooper, Skrocki, and Cooper

This afternoon, a massive manatee floated past Virginia Dare and stopped to drink fresh water that was dripping off the dock across from us.  We kept referring to it as a "she" because it was so large, we thought she might be pregnant.  Baby manatees have been spotted in the marina, but we haven't seen any yet.

Our first up-close-and-personal manatee

Smile for the camera!

They love fresh water, so we trickled our hose to give her more than the drip, drip, drip she was getting.

VERY odd animal

Very peaceful and slow moving

Corralling water in her lower jaw

We moved the hose to our side of the dock and she came right over.......even rolled onto her back.

Her right arm looks as though it was injured at some point

Rolling.......... 

.......over :)

Now, we're getting ready for Alex's visit this week (can't wait!) and starting to plan our trip to the Bahamas -- exciting!