Today I fed a Manatee and wept....

[MarthasGinYard]

I visited a sanctuary for these amazing creatures.

Incredibly moving

And when you feed them they actually hold tightly onto your leg for support.

It was an amazing experience

I cried

Anyone else get totally emotional experiencing stuff like this.?

I get weepy when I go and see my music idols performing live - most recently, Sheena Easton
I rewatched the documentary The Big Time, which propelled her to fame in the 80s and then the next day, there she was on stage!

We swam with wild manatee a few years back in crystal river, it was an amazing experience and a big bucket list tick.
I’d kill to go back.
We did it on a private tour which was so worth it, not the pile em in style you do get where you swim with humans!

I also got extremely giddy seeing raccoons o a beach whilst kayaking in the Everglades.

Lovely. I'm looking up these places now.

You lucky thing OP, they’re gorgeous creatures.

Mine was swimming with wild dolphins in the Bahamas. I’d always loved dolphins, but was scared of water. I finally learnt to swim in my late 20’s as I really wanted to see dolphins.

We travelled out from 5he island for about an hour first. Once we found a pd, the boat stopped and we waited to see if they were happy to hang around (definitely no chasing pods, they had to stay around before we were allowed to get in the water).

It was my first time being in open water and I was really really nervous. The rest of the people in the group were a little way from the boat, diving down and then slowly swimming up and the dolphins were doing the same with them. I stayed very near the boat with my face in the water but making sure that my snorkel was completely above water. All of a sudden I could feel this strange clicking sensation - I looked to the side and it was a mother dolphin an her calf, she was basically checking me out with echo location. They came round in front of me and then just “hung” there for about 5 minutes looking me in the eye. They were so close I could have touched them (but didn’t as we weren’t allowed to). I like to think she knew I was really nervous and so gave me an up close and gentle bit of her time.

When I came back up on the boat, I had to tear of my mask and snorkel as I was properly sobbing!! The rest of the group said that they’d watched the encounter and stayed away to give us space. Over 20 years later, this is still the best experience I’ve had in my life. Still makes me smile to this day. Closely followed by losing my bikini bottoms on a dolphin swim, but that’s another story!!

What a lovely thread!
Animals are incredible - please think of this when flushing cleaning wipes, buying plastics, buying palm oil etc... We can have a positive impact on them too

Oh how wonderful OP! I think I could easily cry at that too. I've seen whales in the Pacific Ocean, just amazing and overwhelming.

I know what you mean OP. It happened to me with dolphins twice. Once I was a foot away and another when they were jumping out of the sea by our boat. They seem genuinely joyful in their jumping and this seemed rather innocent which was so moving. The passengers were so taken aback by the experience we were too choked up to speak. When they look at you they are really taking you in in a way other animals don't. Fascinating creatures.