Manatee sighting

I was walking through my backyard of my condo complex which runs along a brackish (salt and freshwater) estuary called Whitaker Bayou when I saw at first looked way to big for a fish during low tide. It's hard to see in the murky brown water, but the Manatee luckly surfaced to come up for air. I estimate it's length to be about 5 1/2 feet..it was long as me. It's skin had the dark patina of the algae from the bayou.

This is my second sighting, the first time I saw a manatee was a year ago, it was a mother(cow) who had just given birth to her calf and was nudging it up for it's first breathe and swim lesson. That is something I will never forget and I was hoping that this female and the one I saw today were the same one. Females only give birth around every 2-3 years after reaching sexual maturity after 5 years(males only need 3 years) and it takes a year to raise the calf. They are getting killed faster than they can reproduce.

It is sad that our bayou has so many propeller driven boats, which is the leading cause of death death for manatees because their lungs are located along their backside and the fact they go slower than molasses. But despite their snoots I love these sea cows and to sea possibly without a horrible gash from a propeller on it's back or scar, makes me smile.