Extremely Friendly Manatee Swims Right Up To Diver

Imagine yourself swimming with sea cows! They are plump, big and super, duper sweet. The West Indian Manatee is the official name for the sea cows that swim around the Caribbean and Florida.Show more

With their chubby bodies and flat, round tail, we would love to hug a Manatee right this minute! Normally you are not supposed to touch marine life, but in Florida there is an exception. Manatees might approach you first to say hello, so you can give them a little rub.

As a matter of fact, one very friendly manatee up swam up and got personal with this diver down in Crystal River in Florida. How cool is that?

“This single Manatee just couldn't get enough human contact and actually followed me back into the spring after I swam away,” wrote the diver on his original video and boy, how we envy him. The algae-covered sea cow gets really close with the diver and actually lets him give her a gentle rub. Like, for real! It doesn’t get cooler than that.

Crystal River is actually the famous town for Manatee encounters. There are about 20 companies that organize trips, with several boats each that can take dozens of tourists per boat.

West Indian Manatee was placed on the Endangered Species List in the seventies, when there were only several hundred individuals left. It has been of great conservation concern to federal, state, private, and nonprofit organizations to protect these species from natural and human-induced threats like collisions with boats.