Manatee Hunt

Day 178
Clearwater FL- Tampa FL

Manatees and gators are to Florida like whitetails and cows are to Wisconsin. Yet we still haven't seen either in the wild. Today we aim to change that. On the south side of Tampa is a coal fired power plant. For years it has been draining hot water back into the bay after cooling down it's towers. Back in the late 70's some manatees figured out where the warm water was and started coming here in winter for a nice day at the spa. Not the picture you think of when going to look for manatees in the wild.

Standing around in the sun for 30 minutes gives us nothing. Just a couple of fish swim around. Through the tourist trap welcome center is a nature trail that follows the bay and ends up at a viewing tower. It's a hot hike and nothing comes of it. The most exciting part of the walk was a fiddler crab that made Katie jump a bit.

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Disappointed, we returned to the Jeep to sweat the rest of the day. Today was the first day hot enough for A/C and Shirley is blowing hot air out the vents. I'll add that to my list of things to fix (the list is getting long). It's windows down as we drive back through downtown Tampa on the way home.