I had butterflies in my stomach
as my family and I rushed to get on the boat
we spotted a manatee pod,
the captain jerked the boat to a stop,
quickly getting in a line
then dressing into our scuba gear
quietly but quickly getting into the
cold,
murky water.
Waiting as if we were an animal
stalking its prey,
we heard manatees under a nearby dock,
clang,
clang,
clang,
everyone's hearts started to race ten times faster,
obnoxiously swimming towards the sound
pop,
a hand flew out
waving us to come back
the water got colder and colder
everyone swam back to the boat,
everyone except Maddie and I
high hopes and dedication
is what we had
we couldn’t give up now!
We floated over to another tour boat
and waited,
and waited,
and waited,
suddenly, two manatees appeared!
Freaking out inside,
we didn’t understand what to do.
A calf and its mother
in an instant,
they vanished,
then,
a huge grey blob came under us,
a manatee!
everything we learned to do went through the roof
and we freaked out
it turned back and the huge,
grey,
tail came swinging at us, like a baseball bat,
we floated out of the way and back to the boat.