Curious manatee grabs hold of boy's surfboard off Florida coast

July 15 (UPI) -- A family surfing off the Florida coast captured video when a curious manatee swam up and placed a flipper on a child's board.

Leesa Blais, who posted the video to Facebook, said she and her family were surfing off the Fort Pierce Inlet in St. Lucie County when they spotted a pair of manatees nearby.

"Evan and Logan were out surfing when two manatees appeared. It was a relatively calm day, and the water was clear," Blais told WKMG-TV. "The manatees kept swimming around the boys despite their best efforts to avoid them."

Blais' husband used a GoPro camera to film as one of the manatees swam up to one of the boys, Evan, and placed a flipper on his surfboard.

"Evan was definitely scared in the beginning -- he thought it was a shark," Blais said. "I think he was a little intimidated by how big the manatee was and how it grabbed his board. Evan thinks he just wanted to surf, too."