Swift the Manatee

Dan Holding the Ski-Rope

On a beautiful sunny mild early December day in Northeast Florida I am joined by two of my son-in-laws, Dan and Marcus, for a fishing trip to Sisters Creek. Sisters Creek is located off Heckscher Drive in the Northside of Jacksonville, Florida. This tale begins as we entered the creek off the Intracoastal Waterway late on a Sunday morning about three hours before low tide.  On our way up the creek we encountered an orange life-vest floating in the water near the shore.  We looked at each other and I yelled over the roar of the outboard "looks like nothing attached" so we passed it up thinking someone might come back looking for their missing life vest. 

Later that afternoon, after we had each caught around 6 undersized sea trout released for another day, we moved back up the creek to continue fishing. After several minutes of trolling up the creek against the tide we all look at each other in astonishment as the orange life-vest, seen earlier, was rapidly moving on the surface of the water towards our boat against the tide.  After a few minutes of staring at the oncoming vest with puzzled looks on all our faces we discovered that it was tied to a purple nylon ski rope.  As the vest approached the boat we saw an unidentified creature rise to the surface about 20 yards in front of the vest. Finally, as the vest got closer the creature surfaced and we discovered that the ski rope was attached to a signal buoy which was attached to some kind of swimming creature.  As I expertly guided us towards the rope with our trolling motor Dan grabbed the ski rope as it passed the boat and began pulling the ski rope in the boat slowly towards the buoy.  The creature attached pulled back very hard and Dan had to be careful not to be pulled overboard.  We could imagine the headlines "Man Pulled Overboard by Unidentified Creature". Once we got the buoy near the boat we discovered an unbelievable site!  The ski-rope, which was attached to the buoy, was harnessed to a giant manatee.  Yes, a very large beautiful Florida Manatee! Dan immediately passed the rope to Marcus who held on for dear life. "Hold on tight Marcus while we think!" 

After much amusement about Marcus' predicament we discussed what to do next and then it hit me to call the FWC wildlife violation number on the back of our fishing license's and see if they could put us in contact with someone who had any information on the Manatee. Dan dialed the number and made contact explaining our finding and concern. We did not want the beautiful, majestic Manatee to accidentally get the ski rope tangled in something and be trapped. We were concerned that the Manatee, who breathes out of water like humans, to drown as the tides moved in and out . We called the number and within 20 minutes a person called us back and explained that the manatee was named Swift and had escaped from a holding pen.  The buoy was attached by the owner with a professional harness but the ski rope and life vest had been added by another party for additional identification because they were concerned for the manatees safety. Big Mistake! The rope and vest presented a dangerous situation for Swift according to the folks in search of him. However, we were asked by the person on the other end of the line to not cut the rope and vest loose so they could more easily find Swift. We were informed that there was a boat in the area searching for the manatee. We provided the GPS coordinates of our location and explained to the folks on the other end of the line how to enter the creek from the Intracoastal Waterway and navigate to the location of Swift.  We immediately complied with their request to release the ski rope and let Swift swim freely. 

It was getting late in the afternoon and the rescue boat never appeared and we had to leave to get home before dark. We called the folks back and told them we had to leave. They indicated that it may be a more than an hour until the rescue boats arrival.  They had no problem with our departure and thanked us for the call, information and concern for Swift. Unfortunately, we never heard back from Swift's rescuers. We hope that they were able to find him and return him to his original home. What a memorable day on Sisters Creek!