Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

While we were in Clearwater Lake, we were only a couple hours away from my Aunt Beth and Uncle Chuck.  Beth had suggested checking out Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, since that's a place they've been wanting to check out for a while.  So we packed up early one morning and headed out to meet them.  

One of the things we did was head out to Bairs Cove to check out the manatees.  We had seen several at the Everglades, but this little cove had a whole bunch.  The water was still murky, so we really only got a view of them when they came up.  But they brought way more of their bodies out of the water than the ones in the Everglades did, we even got to see a few tails!                

K has been wanting to see an otter in the wild for such a long time.  This was the best view of it I ever got.  But Beth and I walked away to check out the observation tower down the trail, so the others may have gotten a much better view than this.                  

We all ate lunch together at the visitors' center, and got this group shot before heading our separate ways.  A few of us were wandering elsewhere, but we have proof we met up with them.  It was a good day!