Too cute: Watch a manatee ‘mug’ a young Florida surfer of his surfboard in viral video
A birthday surf trip to Fort Pierce turned into an adorable manatee mugging for the Blais family.
Leesa and Brandon Blais (along with Brandon’s parents) took their twin boys Evan and Logan to Fort Pierce on July 4 to celebrate their eleventh birthday with some surf and sun when a manatee swiped Evan’s surfboard.
“The one that went up to Evan’s board went up to my husband’s camera,” said Leesa. “My husband said, “oop, here it comes!” And this manatee just comes up to Evan.”
The manatee was one of at least three others who swam with the Blais family that day, delighting the kids and their parents.
The Blais family frequently go to Fort Pierce to catch some waves.
“My husband’s been surfing for about 20 years,” said Leesa. “We usually come to Fort Pierce.”
Evan and Logan had hit the beach early with their dad that day. Leesa and her youngest daughter, Taylor, came a few hours later around 9 a.m.
“My in-laws were down in the water with the boys and we saw these big objects in the water and I thought ‘oh no they’re sharks’,” said Leesa.
Fortunately they weren’t sharks, and after some guessing the family realized it was a group of manatees.
“We’ve always talked to them about if you see something...stay on your board,” said Leesa.
But after realizing it was a friendly aquatic mammal, Leesa said Evan was happy to let the manatee borrow his board.
The family had a lot of manatee fans adoring their video after Leesa posted it on Facebook.
“It’s really cool for them to experience that,” said Leesa, saying the family has done a couple interviews and that the boys’ school may even be interviewing them. “I didn’t expect the video to get huge likes!”
This story was originally published July 14, 2022 at 7:53 PM.
