Don’t Call My Mermaid A Fat Log!

Mermaids are to manatees as manatees are to fat logs:

Tom Earle and his son David have not seen it, but they have already named it — Tappie, for its choice of the Tappan Zee section of the Hudson River as a vacation destination.

John Vargo has not seen it, either, but he insists it “has found heaven” in the brackish, fertile section where the Croton River’s fresh water empties into the salty Hudson. Randy Shull, 37, from Ossining, says he swam with it last weekend but just missed taking a picture of it. And the Buck twins, Larry and Don, say they saw a large marine mammal break the surface of the river near the Croton Yacht Club, but was it really a manatee?

Well, was it?

. . .

Ian Heller, 15, and Jeff Samalot, 16, said they saw the manatee while in their 17-foot power boat heading from Haverstraw to the Shattemuc Yacht Club in Ossining, where they teach sailing.

“We were just off Croton Point and we saw what looked like a fat log in front of us, but then it rolled and swam away,” Ian said. “I’ve never seen a log do that.”

“It was too big to be a seal, and we kind of dismissed it until we heard later that there’s a manatee around,” Jeff added.

. . .

At the Croton Yacht Club a week ago Sunday, Joe Consula, 49, and the Buck twins, Larry and Don, 59, saw some kind of large mammal break the glassy surface of the river about 20 feet from shore and then submerge and continue quickly upriver. They don’t agree on what it was.

“I just don’t think it could be a manatee. If anything, I’d say it was a seal,” Larry Buck said.

“Well, it was blackish, grayish brown,” Mr. Consula countered. “It was too big to be a seal.”

“Well, it had to be,” Larry Buck said.

“Nah, I saw its face and it’s much bigger than that. I’m going with manatee,” Mr. Consula said.

“Well, I’m going with seal,” Larry Buck said. “Manatee’s too far-fetched for me.”

“Did I see it too, Larry?” asked Don Buck, who says he recently began losing his short-term memory.

“You did, Don, trust me,” his brother assured.