Manatees or Mermaids During Your Timeshare Vacation?

This is certainly the summer of the mermaid but let’s not forget that in Florida, it is always the year of the manatee. And in case you are uncertain about the connection between the two, let us explain that for years, there was a great deal of confusion on the part of sailors over the distinction between the two. In fact, when Christopher Columbus first encountered manatees, he wrote in the captain’s log, “Saw three mermaids. They were not as beautiful as they are painted.”

So as you plan your time on the water this summer, we thought we’d give you our best advice about finding both manatees and mermaids.

Seeking Mermaids Calls for California Timeshare and Las Vegas Timeshare Vacations

2011 could easily be called the year of the mermaid. You can spot them in any theater featuring Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides, the fourth production in this captivating movie series.

You can also find them at Disney California Adventure Park’s Paradise Pier, in the new, “Ariel’s Undersea Adventure” which opened earlier this month. If you are still mermaid hunting by August, you’ll find them as far inland as Las Vegas, Nevada, where the first ever World Mermaid Awards is being held this year at the Mirage Hotel.

Tracking Manatees is All About a Florida Timeshare Vacation

Manatees, also known by the less elegant name of sea cows, thrive in Florida waters. These slow growing herbivores reach a weight of between 800 and 1200 pounds and have an average life span of more than fifty years. Floridians work hard to protect these gentle giants whose greatest natural enemy, ironically, is man himself as manatees are just too slow moving to effectively dodge jet skis and boat propellers.

When you plan your Florida timeshare vacation, be sure you set aside a little time to get away from the theme parks and tourist attractions and go in search of one of nature’s most interesting creatures. You can most often find manatees in Florida’s Crystal River and at Blue Spring State Park, north of Orlando.

Blue Spring is a designated manatee refuge and is the winter home to a large population of West Indian Manatees. Swimming at Blue Spring is forbidden during mid-November through March, when the area is maintained exclusively for use by the manatees. While Crystal River is also a designated manatee refuge, there are places there where you can swim or snorkel with the manatees.

And if you can’t track them down in the rivers, marshes or saltwater estuaries they love, you can also find manatees at Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center.