Celine Chasteen and her friend were out paddleboarding near Jupiter, Florida when they encountered a magical sight.
The two girls were taking a break and relaxing on their paddleboards when Celine felt a large thump on the bottom of her board. Naturally, her heart started pounding harder as she wondered what was underneath her.
Then, a big gray head popped up. Celine relaxed when she realized the creature underneath her paddleboard was a friendly manatee!
“We were going along the coast and I saw what I thought were rocks, but then they started moving,” Celine told The Dodo. “The next thing I know, there’s a manatee putting his flippers on my board.”
Celine’s friend quickly grabbed her camera and documented the amazing encounter.
The manatee hung onto Celine’s board, putting his big flippers on top of it. Both girls couldn’t believe what they were seeing!
“At first, I was like, ‘What is going on?’ But honestly, it was so cool. I’ve never experienced anything like that before,” Chasteen said.
The manatee stayed with the girls for a few minutes, relaxing on his back with his flippers on the board.
During this time, Celine and her friend simply observed the manatee, which was the right thing to do. Manatees are an endangered and protected species, and it’s against the law to touch or pursue them.
Celine and her friend didn’t try to touch the manatee, and when he left, they didn’t try to chase him. They simply let him hang out with them, and once he was finished, he headed back out into the ocean.
Celine loved getting to hang with the manatee for a few minutes, and she hopes he appears again on one of her other paddleboarding adventures:
“I thought he was really cute. He was really nice and stuff. I hope he drops by again.”
Celine isn’t the only paddleboarder who’s encountered a manatee while out on the water.
One paddleboarder was lucky enough to see a manatee relaxing in Weeki Wachee Springs. This paddleboarder took a video of the manatee, but they made sure not to disturb them.
Two other paddleboarders were out on the open water one day when they accidentally disturbed a school of manatees. One of the paddleboarders took an amazing video of the manatees swimming away with surprising speed.
While these encounters with manatees are all amazing, Celine’s stands out since it’s rare for manatees to take such an interest in a human. Celine and her friend’s encounter with the friendly manatee was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. If you’d like to see Celine meeting her new friend, check out the video below.
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