Down in Crystal River, Florida visiting family this week, and my brother is here, too, with his teenage boys and daughter. They’d never been in a small plane, and the weather was perfect for a flight. I finally thought to bring my license and stuff with me, and went down to the to local FBO and rented a plane for a couple of hours. Yeah, it wasn’t a Maule, but a C172 will do in a pinch. Super smooth day for slow flying, and we spent some time circling the various springs in the area. The manatees were up in the springs by the hundreds. Both King’s Bay and Homosassa Spring we’re loaded up with the gentle giants. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. I did, too, since I’ve been dying to fly in Florida at mom folks’ home airport.

Great way to spend the morning!

Sweet! Where are the pictures?

The kids were taking all the pictures while I was flying the plane. I’ll gather some of the good ones from them and post them up.

Suddenly, Tapatalk’s brain has decided I can’t post photos through my mobile device any longer, so sadly I’ll have to wait to update this thread until I get home. Until then, please enjoy them on Flickr.

https://flickr.com/photos/41134969@N04/ ... 5000994347

I picked the best photos from the ones the kids sent me. Manatees may or not be plainly visible. [emoji3]

You know, when I first saw the title, I thought you had a group of hefty passengers.

They are interesting animals. My buddy's sister runs part of the State of Florida's manatee program. It is sad that aside from urban pressure, they are killed far to often by boats.

Ha! That’s funny stuff right there

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... o_bEJeccPO

Hard to believe, but apparently a poor glimpse of manatees is what led to the belief in mermaids.