A ranger at Blue Spring State Park before he retired last year, Wayne Hartley has over 30 years of experience as the principal researcher on one of the longest running databases in existence on endangered Florida manatees. (Photo by Nancy Sadusky, Save the Manatee Club)

By Nancy Sadusky
Director of Online Communications, Save the Manatee Club

It’s mid February and a beautiful day in Florida. I’m at Blue Spring State Park and am just about to take a canoe and head out into the spring run with Wayne Hartley. Life doesn’t get much better than this.

Going out with Wayne on one of his “manatee roll calls” is a treasured experience. There are no boats or swimmers allowed in the spring run during manatee season, so it’s just Wayne and me in the research canoe. We have the spring run to ourselves and a close view of the manatees.

A view from the lookout deck at the park shows manatees gathered in the spring run. (Photo by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

Wayne chuckles as we slide into the water. “The benefit of going with me is that you don’t have to paddle,” he says. Wayne knows what he has to do to maneuver, which means that I can spend all my time watching the manatees, listening to Wayne, and taking photos. A ranger at Blue Spring before he retired last year, Wayne has over 30 years of experience as the principal researcher on one of the longest running databases in existence on the endangered Florida manatee. Now he continues his manatee research as a staff member for Save the Manatee Club.

A seven or eight-foot gator floats lazily by the barrier that separates the spring run from the St. Johns River. It’s about 10:00 a.m. and this is Wayne’s second trip of the morning. He was out earlier and counted between 90 and 130 manatees in the run. I am surprised because the air temperature is in the 70s, but Wayne notes that the river temperature was 67 degrees the day before. “It’s cooler, so there are lots of manatees in the run,” he says. “And we may have something moving in. Manatees are good barometers, because they always come in ahead of the cold.”

A manatee glides by our canoe, surfacing to breathe. (Photo by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

Although most of the manatees were in earlier, there are still plenty left to see. I look around and estimate that there are 20 to 30 manatees in the spring run. The very first manatee we see is huge. “There’s Brutus, going under the canoe,” says Wayne. Wayne paddles slowly, stopping every once in awhile to write notes or add new scars to a manatee’s scar sheet. As we work our way up and down the spring run, Wayne talks softly, keeping up a running commentary on the manatees he spots around us.

”There’s Margarito,” says Wayne, pointing to the right. We also spot SMC adoptees Doc, Phyllis, Lenny, Georgia, Lucille, and Deep Dent. Earlier, Wayne saw Elaine, Robin, Phillip, and Paddy Doyle. Merlin is not there, but Wayne knows where he is. “He’s up at Silver Glen again this winter,” says Wayne. “He at least popped in for a visit last year, but he has not visited Blue Spring yet this season.”

I’m amazed at how large Georgia, Phyllis, and Lucille are. Georgia is resting under a tree by the bank. A little while later, we see Peaches, her son. And then still later, we see Macon, another one of Georgia’s calves. Macon is a female, and she is with a calf of her own. “This may be her second one,” says Wayne.

Turnabout is fair play: a manatee checks out the occupants of the canoe. (Photo by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

We paddle by Crazy Nick, who is recognizable by his many scars – especially by the hole in his tail. Nick looks like he might surface to breathe, but he is only teasing me. I never did get to snap a good photo of him. Later on, we see Paddy Doyle, resting on the bottom, and Doyle the manatee is floating over the top of him. “How about that?” says Wayne.

Many of the manatees are bottom resting, coming up to breathe every so often. Several manatees swim leisurely up or down the spring run, slowly floating by or under our canoe. Some come close enough so you can see their eyes, and they are obviously checking us out. Some of the adults are really large – about as big as our canoe. When they surface to breathe and then submerge again, their back comes up out of the water, and you can see the fine hairs they have all over their body.

There are lots of visitors at the three lookout decks at the park, and they are obviously interested in the manatees. They throw out questions about manatees, and Wayne gives them answers. One woman waves excitedly. “Where’s Howie?” she says. Wayne replies, “I know he’s here, I saw him this morning.” A little while later, we spot Howie. He’s easily identified because of the triangular-shaped scar on his tail. We look back up at the lookout deck, and Howie’s adoptive “mom” is still there. “We’ve found Howie,” I say and point beside the canoe. “He’s right down here.” She is so excited, she bounces up and down on the deck.

Top photo: Wayne spots our little tag along. Bottom photo: The yearling shows off by doing a barrel roll right by the side of the canoe. (Photos by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

One little manatee – he was so cute! – followed our canoe for quite awhile as we made our way up and down the spring run. “You have a tag along!” a man on the lookout deck calls out to us. The little guy (Wayne thought he was a yearling) was clearly fascinated by the canoe and its inhabitants. He would trail behind and then swim along the side or under the canoe when we paused. One time, he popped up right beside me, took a quick peek, then did a barrel roll so close I could see the three little nails on his flipper. “What a show off!” I laughed. Soon he was joined by another yearling and then by a larger manatee that Wayne thought was a two year old. I asked Wayne why the young manatees were following us. “They’re probably curious,” he said. “They are like kittens at this age, and the canoe is something new and different. The adults are pretty much over it.”

Back on shore, visitors come up to Wayne and ask him questions. Wayne is a wonderful goodwill ambassador for the manatees, and you can tell he enjoys answering the queries:

“How many manatees are here today?”

”How do you tell them apart?

”What do you do with the data you are collecting?

One woman asks about a manatee named Amber. The woman had been at Blue Spring when Amber was released into the wild two years ago. She asked if we knew anything about her, and she was pleased to discover that Amber was one of the manatees we had spotted in the spring run, and that she has been coming back to Blue Spring each year since her release.

All too soon, my Blue Spring field trip is over. But I am left with good memories as well as a reminder of how lucky we are to be able to see manatees, and how important it is to protect them.

A mother manatee and her calf approach the canoe. (Photo by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

Back from the canoe trip, Wayne Hartley answers questions from interested park visitors about manatees and his research work. (Photos by Nancy Sadusky, SMC)

• View a photo gallery of manatees and other images at Blue Spring State Park.
  
  
• See the Blue Spring manatees available for adoption.
  
  
• Get Manatee Protection Tips for swimmers and divers