manatee, the most amazing experiance in my life

hey everyone,

I know this is a really long post. sorry, but i wanted to share the full story. ^^ *sweat drop*

a few weeks ago, the most amazing thing i have ever experianced happened to me. and i wanted to share it with all of you.
see, i've wanted to be a zoologist since i was about 5 yrs. old, and ive never once changed my  mind about my choice in career, (i've taken several ateps toward success in my future career, such as volunteering at the local zoo) so for me, this was really incredible.

fishing is another thing i like to do, so i was fishing in this small creek near my house, when i saw some huge animal swimming around a bend in the creek. at first i thought it was a large alligator. so i started to get my camera ready to take pics of it. (i had the camera with me to take pics of any fish i caught) but as it got a little closer, i caught a glimpse of a large tail fin, so then, i thought it was a giant fish!!! (lol)
so i grabbed my pole, and got it ready to try and catch it. i was just about to cast out, when i realized it wasnt a fish either, but i still wasnt quite sure what it was. (it was staying rght up against the bank of the other side of the creek) then it went underwater, and popped up again right in front of me and started eating grass off the side of the bank. right in front of me!! now that i could see it clearly, i knew it was a manatee. so i got my camera ready to take pics again, but it started swimming away. i wasnt gonna lose sight of it that easily!!! i grabbed my camera and chased after it, running along the bank. i met up with it again right next to a part of the creek that ran under a busy street. it was eating grass off the side of the bank again....right in front of me again!!  so i started snapping pics. i realized it wasnt paying any attention to me at all, so i slowley reached out to it. i touched it's nose lightly. and it didnt even flinch!! it just completely ignored me! so i was sitting there rubbing it's nose for like five minutes, while it just kept eating grass.
finally, (although it seemed really quickly to me) it started to swim away slowly.
i was concerned about such a large animal being in such a small creek, so i called florida fish and wildlife conservation. they said that when they found a manatee in a small creek, they used to relocate them to a larger area, but every time they did, they would find the same manatee in the same creek a few weeks later, so now they assume that they know where their going. and dont relocate them anymore.
they assured me that so long as it didnt look hurt (which it didnt) it would be fine. it wasnt until after i hung up that i realized it was heading towards the st. john's river, so i think that is where it was trying to go.
for me, to have that type of enconter and interactment with a wild animal as endangered as a manatee, blew my mind. it is something i will never forget in my entire life!!

thank you for taking the time to allow me to share this amazing part of my life with you.
im no photographer, but if you want to see pics of the manatee, i posted some of the best ones in my image folio.
thanks again,
david (my pet rock)

Oh my gosh that is awesome! You got really close and everything! You are so lucky, I wanna see a manatee! oh well, anyway, hope you get to be a zoologist! That's my second job career after video game programmer

thak you, i hope i get to too. lol, yeah, it was really neat, it felt like rubber, leather, and velvet all at the same time!! o__O, sounds weird, but thats the best way to describe it. lol

Wow that is so kewl.   I wish I had that chance.  I can't believe that you actually touched a manatee.  You are so lucky!!! 

lol, yeah, i cant believe it either!!
it was soooo cool. ^^

What an incredible experience!  I'm very jealous.

THats incredible. A manatee from so close. here in holland we cal manatees : seacows XD

Sea cows?  I didn't know that.  I guess you learn something everyday.

Ive heard people call them seacows now and then, but manatee is just the official name.

yeah, they are called sea cows here in florida too. and when you see when up close, you really start to realize why. lol

okay,
hope you like them, like i said, im no photographer, but i think their alright, good luck with getting your dream job too. ^^
best wishes,
my pet rock