Backs and snouts

Posted on March 29, 2022 by dinajohnston

After a long cold spell in January I headed over to the Manatee Viewing Center at the Tampa Electric plant. The manatees hang out around the warm water coming off the electric plant that comes out in the bay. There were hundreds there the morning I visited. It was like a big bowl of potato soup.

One thing you notice is all of the different backs they have. Some have scratches from boat strikes, some have barnacles growing on their backs and some have algae growing on them. One had a back completely covered in barnacles. He must have been pretty old to have his back covered in them.

There’s something special about a manatee snout coming up for air. They pretty much look the same but a closer look and some are rounder than others and some have longer hairs or whiskers.

All of the tails look different as well. This one was covered in barnacles. Many had big scratches on them.

This one was a released manatee (from a rehab center) and has a monitor on his tail so they can track his movement.

I spent several hours that morning watching the manatees. I got there when it opened and it got busy quickly for a Monday morning in January. So many people are coming to Florida for vacation instead of leaving the country to go to the Caribbean. Tampa has been crazy crowded for months now with tourists.

Seeing the tees up close.

Posted on April 4, 2020 by dinajohnston

Zooming in on the manatees at the Tampa Electric Plant. I caught several of them turning over and floating on their back.

Coming up for air close to the viewing deck.

Many of them had boat scars, algae or barnacles on their backs.

All of those bumps in the water are manatees, staying warm where the warm water comes out of the electric plant. Taken with my phone, you can really see just how many of them are out there.

Annual trip to the electric plant

Posted on March 5, 2020 by dinajohnston

After a really cold week, I headed over to the TECO (Tampa Electric Co) plant to see the manatees that hang out there in the winter. The warm water coming off the electric plant in the lagoon keeps the manatees warm during the coldest weeks. Years ago, the plant built a manatee viewing center with a big deck that wraps around part of the lagoon. All of those dots in the water are manatees. There were hundreds of them the morning I was there in late January.

The plant says that the smoke coming out of the stack is actually clean steam. It doesn’t feel smoky when you are there and the sky was clear blue.

Part of the deck overlooking the lagoon. This was still early in the day before the big crowds get here. I got here well before they opened at 10am and waiting in line to park and was out before lunch. They can get crazy crowded and parking is a challenge when the manatees are here in large numbers. The news channels report on them when there’s been a prolonged cold spell so everyone heads over including me.

Some of the birds around the plant. White pelicans were flying high, a young night heron flew by the deck and a vulture was sitting on a platform built for an osprey nest.

Down at the very end of the lagoon, it’s roped off so boaters or kayakers cannot follow the manatees into the area. There is no swimming with the manatees here.