FORT PIERCE, Fla. – A family in Florida captured an adorable, once-in-a-lifetime moment while out surfing at Fort Pierce Inlet on July 4.
While waiting for the waves, two friendly manatees came to say hello to a husband and wife, and their (almost) 11-year-old twin boys, who are locals to the area.
“Evan and Logan were out surfing when two manatees came up on them and started swimming around them,” Blais told News4JAX.
Moments later, a manatee swam up to their son Evan and playfully “stole” his surfboard!
Leesa Blais shared the video on social media and told News4JAX that her husband captured the adorable moment on the family’s GoPro Hero 10.
“It was a relatively calm water day with some small waves and the water was super clear -- so seeing these huge bodies at first we thought they were sharks,” Blais said. “It was so cool to see them just keep swimming around the boys despite them trying to stay clear of them. They seemed to love the boards and the kids.”
Blais said the boys were scared at first -- this being their first encounter swimming with manatees in the wild -- but that they knew what to do.
“We’ve taught the kids to never touch the manatees, they know it’s illegal so they did everything they could to just stay clear but it was so cool how they just followed them around,” Blais told News4JAX.
What made this moment even more special was that the boys’ birthday was the next day -- July 5!
“We always do a big beach day, fireworks to kick off their birthday celebration every year,” Blais said. “Evan is so excited his video is being shared and liked so much by so many!”
Blais said the manatees stayed around the boys for about 10 minutes and then swam away.