By LOIS KINDLE
Its popular cownose rays are gone for the season, but there’s still plenty to see and do at Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center.
The Apollo Beach nature attraction opened Nov. 1 for its 38th season and has already welcomed some of the hundreds of thousands of visitors it attracts annually. Last year, 521,000 people visited, the second highest number on record.
With the weather and water temps cooling, hundreds of manatees will start returning to TECO’s warm water discharge canal at the Big Bend Power Plant as they have since the early 1970s, when the water temperature of Tampa Bay is 68 degrees or colder. TECO has reported about 190 of those sea cows have been documented visiting the canal for more than 20 years, and one has returned for a record 42.
MANATEE VIEWING CENTER AERIAL PHOTO
The Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center has opened for its 38th season in Apollo Beach. As recently as 2023, it was listed as the No. 2 free attraction in the country by USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice travel awards. Last year more than 500,000 people visited.
TECO PHOTO
The Manatee Viewing Center’s 50-foot observation tower has several platforms to view all of Tampa Bay and even the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on a crystal clear day.
JAMIE WOODLEE PHOTO
A second observation platform, jutting 150 feet off the Manatee Viewing Center’s 900-foot-long tidal walk, gives visitors an even closer look at wintering manatees and other marine life in TECO’s warm water discharge canal.
TECO PHOTO
The Manatee Viewing Center’s 900-foot, ADA compliant tidal walk features an estuary of native coastal plants, trees, birds and animal life on the left and TECO’s warm discharge canal on the right, where manatees congregate in the winter.
Visitors are already spotting needlefish, redfish, sheepshead and large tarpon, blue crabs and other marine life in the canal from both the viewing center’s main observation platform and another opened last year off the tidal walk, jutting 150 feet into the canal. The latter gives folks an even closer look at manatees and whatever else is moving in the canal.
“We’ve already had a half dozen dolphin sightings so far,” said Jamie Woodlee, administrator of viewing center’s operations.
In addition to the 900-foot, ADA compliant tidal walk, featuring an estuary of native coastal plants, trees, birds and animal life on the left and the discharge canal on the right, the Manatee Viewing Center has a butterfly garden, 50-foot observation tower with several platforms to view all of Tampa Bay and even the Sunshine Skyway Bridge on a crystal clear day; nature trails; modestly priced snack bar; updated environmental education center, remodeled gift shop stocked with lots of new merchandise each year; plenty of free parking; and golf-cart transport from the its overflow lot and back.
LOIS KINDLE FILE PHOTO
The Manatee Viewing Center is a great place for families to spend time together outdoors and learn about manatees and other Florida wildlife. The attraction has lots of things to see and do, and everything but the snack bar and gift store items is free.
The cownose rays, which would normally be on site in the viewing center’s touch tank, are safely spending the season at The Florida Aquarium after Hurricanes Helene and Milton damaged the habitat and equipment. None of the rays were on site during the storms, which also damaged downstairs restrooms, the butterfly garden, signage and trees. All have been remediated.
“You won’t even notice anything happened,” Woodlee said.
The Manatee Viewing Center is the anchor attraction for the Florida Conservation and Technology Center, a public-private partnership between Tampa Electric, The Florida Aquarium, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the University of Florida. The Florida Conservation and Technology Center includes the Manatee Viewing Center, Tampa Electric’s Clean Energy Center, Florida Aquarium Coral Conservation Center and Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Center, FWC Florida Youth Conservation Center and FWC Fish Hatchery.
TECO PHOTO
Manatees are the starring attraction at Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center. These gentle, plant-eating giants come in by the hundreds to TECO’s warm water discharge canal during the cold winter months, when water temperatures dip below 68 degrees.
The Manatee Viewing Center’s regular hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from Nov. 1 through April 15, except all day on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, when it’s closed. Located at 6990 Dickman Road, Apollo Beach, the facility also closes at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
Admission is free. Visitors are advised to wear comfortable shoes and clothing. The center’s boardwalks are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and only trained service animals are permitted on site.
“It’s a great place to be outdoors and spend time with family or friends,” Woodlee said. “There’s a lot to learn and see. You can see a lot of Florida in a very small space.”
“And everything is free, except for gift shop items or foods at the snack bar.”
For more information, visit www.TampaElectric.com/Manatee or call 813-228-4289.
