The water was so clear it looked like glass.
From one of Get Up And Go Kayaking’s clear kayaks, guide Josh aimed his camera just in time: a manatee calf slowly swam toward its mother, in the waters of Silver Springs State Park, Florida, and brushed its snout against her chin. The mother didn’t hesitate. She wrapped it in her enormous flippers, as if she knew exactly what her daughter needed at that moment.
No one came any closer than necessary. The team of guides remained floating silently, watching from a distance, because they knew that this closeness between mother and daughter is not just affection: baby manatees depend on their mothers for one or two full years, learning from them where to eat, where to rest, and which way to swim when the water gets cold. Days later, they saw them together again in the same river, the mother still holding her calf with her flipper. Sometimes the best way to care for something wild is simply not to touch it.