Manatee Spring 18 June 2023

My family went to Manatee this past Sunday for my son and I to do a Father's Day dive. We couldn't get there until around 4 pm due to work schedules.
There were still plenty of people at the spring, but as I walked up to the headspring to check out conditions, I quickly noticed everyone was out looking down into the water. A five foot gator had it all to himself. Rangers weren't allowing anyone in, and eventually FL Wildlife, Fish and Game arrived to relocate the little fellow.
In the meantime, my son and I got a nice dive in over at Catfish, which we enjoyed except for seeing a bunch of graffiti scratched into the walls above the cavern entrance, mostly using pieces of limerock. Some had been scratched out, and with a lot of it looking recent. I told Ranger Jen at the front entrance station about it. Except for that though, conditions were great.