I've never heard that joke before...

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Sirenians are just awesome.

The animals, of the order sirenia, evolved from four-legged mammals and weigh between 440 and 1,300 pounds, swimming at an average speed of three to five miles per hour.

But enough about subby's mom.

Crystal River is a pretty cool place. I highly recommend a visit.

I'm a Manatee, biatch! (new window)

It's down right now, since it's not too cold, but Florida Power & Light keeps a webcam by the Riviera Beach nuclear plant where the manatees stack on top of each other to sit in the warm water coming off the plant. Link (pops).

My wife's grandparents live in Homosassa, we go down about every other christmas and rent a place in Crystal river, we have a couple of kayaks and paddle up to the springs, the manatees there are always willing to play with you. 3 Sisters spring was really nice.

I once had a boss that would snicker anytime I told him I was going there. This man was in his 40's and a super professional in every sense, except when it came to "homo".

CS,B time...

Our department did an excavation of a Civil War shipwreck in the St. John's River in Jacksonville. If you've ever been in that water, you know it's muddy and silty and there's absolutely no visibility. The wreck site was so bad, they had to build an underwater coffer dam just to keep sediment from re-covering the site.

The dive team was on the wreck, measuring and recording as best they could. As one of the divers was coming back up the line, a rather large manatee saw him in the murk, and assumed he was a female manatee. He starts pulling on the line for all it's worth, and a couple of other divers go into the water to see what's wrong. It took both of them to somehow dissuade the manatee from continuing his amorous pursuits.

So if you ever go diving near Jacksonville, be careful - the manatees are a bit rapey.