See the Manatees in the winter at Tampa

 Manatees gathering in the warm waters

TECO

TECO at Apollo Beach, Tampa

In the cooler months the Manatees make for the warmer waters with their young, and one of the places is at
TECO at Big Bend Power Station, Apollo Beach, Tampa.
When the water in the Bay reaches 68 degrees or cooler, the manatees gather and seek refuge from the cold wintry waters.


We were lucky enough to see lots of Manatees during our visit, and this is a wonderful opportunity to see them in real life rather than at a park.

The Manatee Viewing Center is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., November 1 through April 15.
(The center is closed Thanksgiving, at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter.) From home, you can operate the center’s east and west Web cameras.

The Florida manatee (or sea cow) is Florida’s state marine mammal, and is a large aquatic relative of the elephant and is believed to have evolved from a plant-eating mammal with 4 feet that lived on the land more than 60 million years ago. They are grey or greyish-brown in color and have thick, wrinkled skin which usually has some algae or barnacles on it, and is often scarred with a body similar to a seal. Their front flippers help them steer through shallow water and they also have powerful flat tails that help propel them through the water. Although they have small eyes and no outer ears, manatees are thought to see and hear quite well, and they have whiskers on their face.
If you have seen them at Sea World you would have seen cabbages and lettuce floating or submerged in the water which are some of the vegetation they eat.

The manatee rises to the surface fairly regularly and we were lucky enough to get some pictures of them, some of which are mothers with their young.

Manatees are usually found in coastal rivers, estuaries and canals. They move freely within salt, brackish and fresh water habitats, often in water less than six-feet deep. Manatees are a migratory species and Tampa Bay is home to more than 200 manatees during the winter and approximately 100 manatees during the summer.

We have been lucky enough to see them not only at Sea World but also in the wild both at Tampa Bay in the winter months but also at a harbour in Captiva in the summer months.