Visiting the Manatee Viewing Center in Tampa
From wearing a summer dress one day to getting all bundled up the next - that’s winter in Florida.
My favorite backpack here - after almost 3 years of frequent “hauling”, it’s starting to show some signs of wear. Jacket bought in Glasgow, Scotland, when I foolishly believed that the cardigan I had packed was going to cut it.
As we woke up one of these weekends with winter weather here (for us in Florida, that’d be anything below 70F), we decided that it would be a good time to visit the Manatee Viewing Center.
We’ve been wanting to visit this place for a while now, but it has been closed to the public since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and only this month began welcoming visitors again.
Manatees (also known as sea cows), one of Florida’s symbols, are warm-blooded mammals, that just like humans don’t like the cold, and need warm water to survive and thrive.
As water is being used to cool the units at the Big Bend Power Station in Apollo Beach where Tampa’s energy is produced, it is warmed in the process, and discarded in the canal. Once temperatures fall below 68F, manatees search for warm waters and have found refuge here. Hence, Big Bend has been designated federally, and by the state of Florida, a manatee sanctuary to ensure their protection, especially during the cold months.
Tampa’s Manatee Viewing Center is free to visit (including parking), and one can spend a whole day there watching the slow-moving mammals, visiting the gift shop, enjoying a meal at the cafe, and/or a snow cone from the vendors on location, and, of course, hiking the loop trails that end with a 50-foot observation tower offering 360-degree views of the surrounding area, and if you’re lucky, more wildlife spotting. Oh, and how could I forget about petting the rays in the touch tank? They are fascinating, however, be aware that these creatures love to get splashy, so make sure you secure your phone or camera, or even yourself (during the cold months, getting splashed is not necessarily a pleasant or welcomed experience). Needless to say that this is a busy place, crowded with kids and adults alike.
Because we arrived a little after 10am, we were able to easily find parking by the main entrance (there are signs indicating the direction of overflow parking if the main one is full).
We lasted up to two hours in the cold and left as the place was getting busier by the minute. The deck where the manatees are watched can get pretty windy, and on that 64F chilly day, it was too much for us (mind you, the day before we had summer weather so we were definitely not used to the cold).
It was a fully cloudy day which made it hard to see the manatees in the water, not to mention, photograph them (most of the time you’ll only see their noses sticking out), so we’re hoping to return on a sunnier day when we can see them reflecting through.
If you want to learn more about the Manatee Viewing Center, check their website here.
Beautiful hiking trail.
Views from the 50-foot Observation Tower.
Until next time.
xoxo,
Em