Taking a Walk on the Wilder Side

May 12, 2008

Its a holiday challenge when older kids decide they've ‘done' Disney but don't give up on the annual family trip to Florida - just head for adventurous new territory.

On The Right Track

"Whaddja say your name was, boy?"

"Jay."

"Well Jay, ya'll hang on. We're gonna haul tail."

With that, the Daytona stock car driver put the pedal to the metal and went from zero to 257km/hr in a heartbeat, with my son beside him.

Speaking of hearts beating - mine certainly was - very, very quickly.

Snapping photos of Jay 17, then Joel 19, and then their father Jamie as they roared madly around the Daytona International Speedway at breakneck speed gave this over-protective mother serious palpitations, but it gave them one of the biggest thrills of our Florida vacation.

"Go-karting," gasped Joel after three break-neck laps on the world famous 31-degree high-banked turns, "just won't cut it anymore."

Daytona

The Daytona International Speedway is Mecca for anyone with a need for speed or a passion for hot cars. From the statue of the late, great Dale Earnhart that welcomes you, to the driving simulators, the pit-crew wannabe competitions and the deafening roar of the stock cars, this is testosterone territory and quite likely the high point of any teenage boy's Florida vacation.

Since the first race held in 1959, Daytona has lured car enthusiasts of all types. Stock car kings like Petty, Earnhardt, and Allison have made racing history at Daytona and hundreds of thousands of tourists come each year simply to watch the races. Those with fantasies to fulfill, however, head for the Richard Petty Driving Experience. There, racing dreams come true as participants climb into stock cars for drive-alongs with professionals, try the High Banks Eight in which participants drive themselves for eight hair-raising laps and the Daytona Driving Experience, where the truly addicted take 24 laps behind the wheel to sharpen their skills.

Zipped into actual driver's suits, neck protectors and helmets - complete with absorbent terry hoods to suck up the sweat when the adrenaline rush hits - participants get an up-close and gritty taste of the track.

The laps speed past in as many minutes, and in total silence.
"Didn't you ask the driver anything?" I marveled.

Said a slightly wobbly Jamie, "The tacometer was at 6,000rpm and we were going like bats out of hell. I wanted him to concentrate!"

And Now For Something Completely Different...

If roaring around a racetrack at top speeds wasn't excitement enough, Florida also offered an eco-adventure guaranteed to engage the most teenager, two hours west of Daytona in the small town of Crystal River.
"Looking at manatees is one thing,"said Captain Bill Bird, of Birds Underwater Manatee Tours, as we wriggled into our wetsuits and hopped onto his boat, "but swimming with them is incredible. You won't believe how graceful they are."
It was sunrise...still a bit cool...and we were about to jump into the water with mammoth marine creatures, each of whom was easily five times our combined family weight.

Daytona

Each grey, brown manatee tips the scales between 1,100-1300 kgs and can be as long as four meters, so their grace is astonishing, as is their ability to hide. You'd think it impossible for anything that gigantic to slip out of sight, but manatees are so well-camouflaged they can actually disappear into the riverbed. Looking down from the surface with mask and snorkel, you feel as if the bottom is rising up to greet you when a manatee heads for the surface.

"They like to be scratched under their pectoral fins," explained Captain Bird, showing us how to provide just the right pressure to a friendly manatee's rubbery grey hide.
"What's the green stuff?" asked Jay, fastidiously avoiding some avocado-colored patches on his new pal's hide.
"Moss," explained Bird. "Makes them itchy."

No wonder. A far cry from the sparkling blue waters usually associated with snorkeling expeditions in sunny climes, the Crystal River is greenish and murky. Swimming in it brings on the creepy crawlies for the first few minutes until you realize that the bits of green flotsam mean the manatees are feeding happily.

"When you weigh that much," explained Bird, "you have to eat all the time. Manatees are always yanking up seaweed from the bottom."

It's a never-ending feast down below. Put your ears under the water and you hear them chewing.

Given the size of their mighty jaws, we were glad to learn that manatees are herbivores, chomping only weeds, not snorkelers.

Once in serious danger of extinction from the murderous propeller blades of pleasure boaters, the manatee population is slowly recovering thanks to the efforts of environmental groups. Visitors are welcome to join the big creatures for a swim - but only on the manatees' terms.

"We never chase them," explained Bird. "'We take visitors to the manatees and see what happens. If they leave when we get in the water, we go somewhere else."

The manatees aren't fed by tour boats, but more often than not, the sociable creatures stay and interact with swimmers. Perhaps they're just hoping for a bit of a scratch in those hard-to-reach, mossy places.

Just the Facts

The Daytona International Speedway's Richard Petty Driving Experience Ride-Along Program is open to participants over 16 years with photo ID and a guardian's signature. The cost is $134 U.S. For more information, visit www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com

Bird's Underwater Manatee Tours last approximately three hours and all equipment is supplied. The cost per person is $29.50 U.S. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.birdsunderwater.com
For Florida vacation information, visit www.visitflorida.com