Skip to main content

Best Place to see Manatees in Tampa Bay

Prior to moving to Tampa, I really wasn't aware of manatees. Sure, I saw them at an aquarium once. But living in the Northeast, manatees were not spoken about often. So I'm sure you can understand my surprise when I started to hear about excursions where you could swim with manatees or visit a manatee viewing center. So being the FunSized Frolicker that I am, I had to go exploring and see what these manatees were all about. So here's what I did...

Let's talk swimming with manatees first! For this excursion, I booked it through TripShock, which is how I find a lot of my excursions, especially here in Florida! I did this with Crystal River Watersports which is a little over an hour north of Tampa. Prepare to get up bright and early for this excursion because the earlier you get up, the better chance you have to see the manatees. For this 3 hour tour, you are brought out to Kings Bay, where the local guides know the "hot spots" to find the manatees. Throughout the boat ride, they teach you more about these interesting creatures, especially so you know how to treat and respect them in their natural habitat. 

This was a really cool experience to have, one that I never thought of doing prior to living in Florida! Watch the video of my swim with manatees below:

The next way to see manatees is a free way, which we absolutely love! The Manatee Viewing Center is a venue located in Apollo Beach that you can visit for free from November to April. Manatees are around the Tampa Bay area all year round, but they specifically come into the canals of the Manatee Viewing Center during this time frame because when the temperature drops in the Gulf, this where the manatees go to warm up. 

In the video below, I visited the Center, a little too early and there weren't any manatees there yet, but I've heard how packed those canals can get with them, I just haven't seen it for myself yet. But have no fear, in case you don't see any manatees, you can still touch string rays in their touch tank, and walk on their countless trails and take in the views around the Bay. Then, head on down to Finn's Apollo Beach for their happy hour! I'm not affiliated, I just think they have a great deal, good food & drinks that come with an even better waterfront view!

Sure, you can get lucky seeing them just out and about around Tampa Bay, but these two options give you a more likely chance to see them! 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Last week's new recipe for 2013 was DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe to share with you because I came up with it all on my own. So, let me share with you on how I prepared these amazing Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Ingredients: -Chicken -Red Pepper -1 Carrot Stick -Chinese Five Spice Blend -Sesame Garlic Sauce -Romaine Lettuce Hearts -Lime *All these ingredients can altered and/or changed to be to your liking!* 1- Cut the chicken into long slices and/or cubes. 2- Season the chicken before putting in the pan with the Chinese Five Spice Blend and some salt and pepper. 3- Cook the chicken in a pan, medium to low heat, in some olive oil with Pam. 4- Cut up the red pepper into cubes and add that to the chicken in the pan. Continue to mix until fully cooked. 5- Shred one carrot stick; and put to the side. 6- Wash individual Lettuce pieces. (As many as you need for as many as you are serving) 7- Heat up a generous amount of the Sesame Garlic Sauce
Post a Comment
Read more

Fun New Fitness App!

Thanks to InStyle Magazine , I found out about this great new Fitness App called ' Teemo .' It's a free app you can get from iTunes that I recommend you get right this second! For someone like me, who needs discipline while working out, this app is perfect for you. You get an at-home trainer, a challenge, and a work-out all on your phone! What's better than that? ...Well I could name a few but let's focus on the app for right now! Teemo makes it fun for you to exercise! I've recently read multiple health articles that say the best kind of work outs are ones of short quick intervals that combine strength training, cardio and are bound to make you sweat! Teemo does all of those things and they make it a game too! Depending on which challenge you choose, after you complete about 5 exercises they reward you with an item related to the challenge you are on. The challenges vary from a 'Desert Dash' to 'Climb Everest.' Each challenge involves differen
2 comments
Read more

Quarantine Night time Skin Care Routine

Throughout this time in quarantine, I really have made a conscious effort to take care of my skin. I think this is the best it has looked in a really long time, partly because of how I've been keeping up with this nightly routine.  So here is the quick video version of it and then I'm going to go into detail of what exactly I am doing... If I'm wearing make-up, I first use Biore's Charcoal Cleansing Micellar Water to take off my make-up, or at least the majority of it. Now even though, it says on the bottle you can use this without rinsing it off, I feel like it still leaves a film which is why I go to wash my face with soap afterwards.  To wash my face, I vary between different gentle cleansers but for this video I used Lancome's Miel-en-Mousse Foaming Face Wash, which smells incredible! Washing my face after removing my make up, helps make sure there is no remaining residue of make up on my skin before I continue with my routine. After washing my face, I
Post a Comment
Read more