WATCH: Manatee slowly swims sideways toward camera

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - Floridians know manatees are slow and steady creatures. 

One manatee seemed to be playful with a local canoeist, Michael McCarthy, who was in his See Through Canoe in St. Petersburg. 

A camera was mounted underneath the bottom of the canoe to capture moments like this, he says. The manatee gracefully looked up through the canoe, then he comes at the camera sideways. Its snout seems to bump into the camera.

The manatee then gets back into its normal position, and is seen swimming away from the camera’s view.