There is a manatee in the Hudson

There is a manatee in the Hudson; which is interesting because I had always associated the Hudson with industrial waste, bad smells, the periodic dead person, and kayakers who seem to have no problem floating amongst those things:

Over the past week, boaters and bloggers have been energetically tracking a manatee in its lumbering expedition along the Atlantic Coast and up the Hudson River.

John H. Vargo, the publisher of Boating on the Hudson magazine, put out an alert last week, much to the incredulity of some boaters.

"Some were laughing about it, because it couldn't possibly be true," Mr. Vargo said.

The manatee has been spotted at 23rd Street near Chelsea Piers, West 125th Street, and later in Westchester County. It appeared to be healthy.

Randy Shull, a boater from Ossining, spotted the manatee about 4:30 p.m. yesterday while his 21-foot boat was floating at Kingsland Point Park in Sleepy Hollow.

"It was gigantic," Mr. Shull said. "When we saw it surface, its back was just mammoth."

It is unusual, but not unprecedented for manatees to travel this far north -- the seaweed-munching sea creatures are commonly associated with the warm waters of Florida.

And the manatee is hanging out by Chelsea Piers. Is the manatee interested in sprucing up its figure with people paying an obscene amount of money to get sweaty with other people also paying obscene amounts of money to get sweaty? (Chelsea Piers is a particularly swanky athletic club that is located essentially on top of the Hudson.)

I like to run on the Hudson a lot, so maybe I can catch a glimpse of it. Better yet, if anyone gets a picture of said manatee, send it to me and I will post it. (And try and not take the credit.)