Since we purchased our trawler back in May, Randy and I haven’t been able to get out and do much kayaking. We did have our kayaks with us for Labor Day weekend, but it was mostly for the kids to use. Actually our last kayak outing was early May when we launched out of Weeks Fishcamp in Bonita Springs. So we decided earlier in the week that we would go on Sunday (today).

This morning, Randy packed up our kayaks on the back of his truck and and I packed a cooler for us. Randy, Corey and I then headed to Lover’s Key State Park to meet Randy’s father, Johnny-boy, who was also going to kayak with us.

Lover’s Key is a fantastic place to kayak. We usually launch outside of the park (so we don’t have to pay to park and launch) and then paddle there. This spot has always been a favorite of mine since I like to take photos of birds and there are plenty of them here. Today, once we paddled into the park, we headed down to the park’s actual launch spot where there is a small island which is usually good fishing for the guys. Today, we were pleasantly surprised by several manatees in the area. At first, we thought there was only one and but he was really friendly. He kept sticking his nose out of the water right by our kayaks. We began to notice more of them and I tried my best to get a couple shots of them without much luck. One of the manatees actually grabbed onto an anchor line that was attached to Corey’s kayak! Corey was standing on top the kayak and it suddenly began to move around. It was amazing how friendly and unafraid they were. We stayed and watched them for close to an hour before heading back to our launch spot. It was still early when we got back to our truck (we were expecting afternoon showers) so we decided to stop by Flipper’s on the Bay at the Lover’s Key Resort for some lunch and drinks.