Food, Fitness, & Fun in All 50 States

The first activity we did in FL this past February was visit the Manatee Viewing Center. The Tampa Electric Big Bend Power Station that is located in Apollo Beach, FL flushes (clean) warm water back into the canal. When the bay’s temperatures drop below 69 degrees, the manatees seek out this warm water haven, creating a perfect viewing center for us land mammals to check out the water dwelling type.

In addition to the great viewing platforms and walkways, there is an education center on-site with display’s focused on manatees and on Tampa Electric. There is even a peaceful butterfly garden in the center, and all of this is free! It was definitely the perfect first activity to get our assignment in Sarasota kicked off FL style! The weather had already started warming up some though, so there weren’t as many manatees in the canal as there sometimes are, and it was hard to get good pictures of them under the water…