Living His Dream: Swimming With the Manatees

May 6, 2010— -- It comes as no surprise that I love the water, and it played a central role in my "dream" as part of the "Good Morning America" Living the Dream series.

It's a dream that started when I was a child, watching a world of adventure unfold before my very eyes on television shows such as "Wild Kingdom." "The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau" was one of my favorite shows.

Every week brought another journey to the ocean floor with Jacques and son Phillipe, and they helped inspire my childhood dream to become a marine biologist and help injured manatees.

Jacques Cousteau's grandson, also named Phillipe, carries on the family tradition, hosting nature shows and heading an environmental nonprofit.

"I have to credit my mom for that," Phillipe Cousteau said. "You know, my father died six months before I was born and despite that, she kept his legacy and his work. And, of course I knew my grandfather, until I was about 17 when he passed away."

With a living legacy of the Cousteau family name, I went in search of the endangered gentle giant, the manatee.

About half a dozen of the so-called "sea-cows" are released into a national refuge in Florida every year.

CLICK HERE to learn more about manatees and find out how you can adopt one.

Manatees are an endangered species, and at the refuge they are monitored around the clock and rehabilitated after injuries from boating accidents, cruelty from divers and swimmers and even a frigid cold winter.

Out on the river, our boat's transmitter zeroed in on a healthy manatee named Baby Coral. Once crystal clear, the river is murky now and I couldn't see the manatee until she was directly underneath me.

But once I did, I couldn't believe how beautiful she was.

Our guide, Buddy Powell, has been doing this for more than 40 years, and he appears in the documentary "The Forgotten Mermaid," shot on the same river with Jacques and Phillipe Cousteau Sr.

The film was the first ever to bring attention to the manatees' struggle with civilization.