November '07

This is a photo of myself and a juvenile manatee swimming together in Crystal River, Florida.

Just before the DEMA show I had the opportunity to go snorkeling with the manatees at Birds Underwater.  This was my first experience with the manatees.  At Bird's everyone shows up at 6:15 in the morning and gets dressed out before getting on the boat.   It's always interesting when you are the only one on a dive boat in a drysuit.  At first everyone looks at you strange as they get dressed in their wetsuits.  After one quick dip in the water everyone started to get cold except of course myself.  There I was nice and warm in my 10+ year old DUI TLS350 drysuit.  After the second trip into the water the other folks on the boat started shivering and began asking me questions about my drysuit.  "Are those things re.. re.. really warm?"  "Are those things re.. re.. really dry?" "You Bet!"

A big thanks to Tim, from Lahaina Divers, HI who took this fantastic picture.  The two of us were able to swim along side this manatee for at least twenty minutes and play with him/her.  It was awesome.

If you get the chance I highly recommend snorkeling with the manatees - in your DUI drysuit!

Kathy
DUI Webmaster
San Diego, CA

photo taken at Crystal River, FL