WHEN HARRY MET ... Kathy Ford - Gadsden Times

Posted: 27 Jun 2021 07:00 PM PDT

Harry D. Butler | Correspondent

Local woman gets chance to swim with manatees

For some folk, going on a vacation means a trip to the beach or to Gatlinburg or tent camping in somebody's pasture. But for others, extraordinary adventures are "for the doing."

Take Kathy Ford and her husband, Mike, of Gadsden, for instance, both retired Goodyear folk. They had just returned from their most recent excursion when we visited recently.

That whirlwind adventure in their "home away from home" RV had taken them to Niagara Falls: "What an awesome sight to see — God's handiwork! "she recalled. "The most inspiring sight was Maid of the Mist."

From there on the United States-Canadian border, the couple traveled south to Dover, Delaware, for a NASCAR race; and from there, another adventure for them was riding on AND under the 92,928-foot long (17.6 miles) engineering marvel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/tunnel. (The toll to cross was $43.)

The Fords were on their way to meet family members at the Outer Banks of North Carolina to watch the wild horses. From there, they headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, for Memorial Day's 600-mile NASCAR race before heading back home.

But prior to that quest, the Fords had been in Citrus County, Florida, about 90 miles northwest of Tampa near the Gulf of Mexico, for Kathy to go swimming — with the lovable, gentle manatees in the Crystal River.

Brittanica describes manatees as "large slow aquatic mammals found along tropical and subtropical Atlantic coasts and associated inland waters. Dull gray, blackish, or brown in color, all three ... have stout, tapered bodies ending in a flat, rounded tail used for forward propulsion. The forelimbs are modified into flippers; there are no hind limbs. Manatees are huge mammals, some as much as 100 feet long, weighing as much as 3,650 pounds.'

"I have always been fascinated by these creatures," Ford said. "Our family has an annual trip to New Smyrna Beach, near Daytona, and we have watched them from the jetties. It's fun to watch their (noses) come up out of the water every five minutes or so for air; the water just ripples."

The manatees come to the warmer waters of the Crystal River from November to March, when the temperature is a steady 72 degrees. Ford signed up for a February visit and off the pair went to the Manatee Capital of the World for her time to swim with the friendly "sea cows."

"I love to snorkel and to do this wearing a wet suit with the manatee so close is difficult to describe," Ford said. "You are not allowed to touch them although they are friendly and are not afraid of you being close to them (there is no danger of a swimmer being bitten by a manatee; their teeth are near their eyes – a vision problem).

Ford said that it was a wonderful feeling to get up close and watch manatees face to face. "I do plan to go back next year," she said. "Other family members have said they want to join me in swimming with the (manatees) and we're planning to do that."

They say apples don't fall far from the tree, and so it was that Ford's younger brother, Randy, another Goodyear retiree who's learning to fly airplanes with an ambition to become a commercial pilot, traveled along with his two daughters and wife to the world's most magical aquarium, eager to experience scuba diving and swimming with whale sharks and manta rays.

Yes, you can do that at the multi-million-dollar Georgia Aquarium, located in downtown Atlanta. Its literature says the 10-million-gallon aquarium features six separate galleries with more than 70 amazing habitats "where one can watch and better understand the thousands of species of marine animals that include such majestic animals as the aforementioned whale sharks, manta rays, dolphins, beluga whales, sea otters, exotic fish and much, much more,"

The literature says that with 4,474 square feet of viewing windows, a 100-foot-long underwater tunnel (for spectators, both seated and walking) and 185 tons of acrylic windows (shielding viewers from 10 million gallons of water) that are the largest in the world at 23 feet tall and 2 feet thick, "Visitors will have multiple opportunities to view all of these magnificent animals," including watching people swimming in that water with (under) the whale sharks.

The Gunters attended a one-hour training course before being allowed to dive into the giant tank to begin swimming alongside the "gentle giants of the sea." An internet site says the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark, and the largest known extant fish species, some reaching a length of 62 feet. They are by far the largest living non-mammalian vertebrate.

Gunter said he didn't really know what to expect, but that the experience exceeded any expectations he could have had. "It was an awesome thing to do; it's not every day you can go 25 to 30 feet under water and swim with the largest fish on earth," he said with a grin. "Absolutely, I want to do this again."

Harry D. Butler, a former broadcaster, is a motivational speaker and author of "Alabama's First Radio Stations, 1920-1960." Butler periodically sits down with someone of note, then brings the conversation to readers.

Angler brings record fish to Pete's Pier for 'official' weigh-in - Citrus County Chronicle

Posted: 27 Jun 2021 12:00 AM PDT

It wasn't the surf that caused Justin Quintal to make the mad dash early Saturday afternoon from Jacksonville to Crystal River.

No one could blame Quintal, the 2019 World Surf League long board world champion, if that was indeed the case. However, Quintal was seeking another world title, albeit, not because he was perched on a surfboard.

Quintal made the three-hour trek to Pete's Pier Marina because he needed an official place to weigh and measure his 23.2-pound yellow mouth grouper, and Pete's Pier is the lone location available in the North Central Florida region that was recognized as an International Game Fish Association weigh station.

"It's a pretty exotic group of fish," said Quintal with an ear-to-ear smile.

But when he reeled the fish in late Friday morning, 60 miles offshore from Jacksonville, little did he realize the prized fish would amount to a world record. That was until the photo he posted to Facebook began making the rounds throughout the social media channels.

world record grouper B.JPG — Quintal's 23.2-pound yellow mouth grouper will set a new world record, once documentation is certified by the International Game Fish Association.
Jeff Bryan

Quintal's 23.2-pound yellow mouth grouper will set a new world record, once documentation is certified by the International Game Fish Association.
Jeff Bryan

"A pretty well-known fisherman in the Jacksonville area hit up my friend," Quintal said. "They suggested I get it weighed and check it out."

So Quintal did just that. Unofficially, it tipped the scales at 23.2 pounds. But for Quintal's name to appear in the record books, it had to be an official weigh-in at a recognized International Game Fish Association weigh station.

After burning up his phone Saturday morning, Quintal's fortunes changed when he dialed up Pete's Pier Marina. They were open, it's scale was in working order and available. So he and Ali Quinn loaded the fish, iced down in a cooler, and hit the road at 1:26 p.m. They made it by 4:48, 12 minutes before the marina officially closed.

But for Pete's Pier owner Boe Braccio and his staff, there was no way they weren't going to wait as long as they needed to for Quintal to arrive.

"I was like we need to make this happen," an excited Braccio said. "I was excited; I even told them I was willing to pay for the speeding ticket to get here."

Since becoming a certified weigh station, no one has yet to put their name in the record books.

Quintal appears to be destined to be the first. As part of the certification process, a sample of the fish — to verify the species — and other documentation was sent in to the International Game Fish Association. If the mark stands, it will best the previous record of 22 pounds, 8 ounces, caught by Brian Ford on Sept. 1, 2002, in Murrells Inlet in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

"He's the first person to bring a fish of that notoriety in," Braccio said, "he came to the right place."

And for the record, Braccio didn't have to pay for a speeding ticket, but if the documents do hold up and Quintal and Pete's Pier Marina see their names in the record books, Braccio will pay a $500 award.

"I'm so stoked right now," Quintal said.

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