One of the places we like to go is the Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric in Apollo Beach, FL. When the water temperatures drop, manatees seek out warmer water. One of the places they have found it is the discharge canal where clean, warmer saltwater flows back into Tampa Bay. TEC has a very nice setup complete with a boardwalk with plenty of viewing areas, an educational building, and a nature trail with a tower overlooking Tampa Bay.
Sometimes they have a docent who will answer questions about the manatees. They also have pictures of some of the manatees that visit regularly that have distinctive scars so you can try to find them.
You can also get a great view of TEC just across the canal. You can see a lot of manatees here!
You can also walk out on a dock/boardwalk where you can see lots of fish and some birds too. They have signs up identifying the different birds and fish you might see.
We didn’t walk out to the tower. It’s about a 1/2 mile hike and the nature trails close at 4pm. We got there at 3:30 and decided that we would have to come back another time to check out the tower.
There is plenty of parking available. When we went, the main parking lot was full. They had two shuttles taking people from the overflow parking over to the main entrance and there were people directing traffic. Even with so many people there, there was plenty of room to see the manatees.
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