Apollo Beach Florida

Every year from about November till about the middle of April, when the waters get cooler, the manatees come inland to the warmer waters found in springs or the power plant discharge canals in Florida. One of those power plant discharge canals happens to be in Apollo Beach which is less than an hour from Bradenton.

There were quite a few manatees there yesterday. Sometimes it’s hit and miss when you go. Sometimes you can go and maybe see one or none and sometimes you can literally see hundreds of them. I would say there were about 10-15 of them there yesterday that you could see from the viewing deck and the pier, and a few more out further floating in the waters.

There were also some really *huge* fish that were swimming around by the viewing deck. I think they were tarpon. They were anywhere from about 3 to 6 feet long and they had some big teeth! I also saw 2 sting-ray’s that literally jumped out of the water in the air. That was pretty cool to see.

While visiting here, you can also enjoy the manatee museum and habitat display, a 900-foot pier, the South Shore cafe, picnic shelter, butterfly garden, souvenir gift shop and of course the viewing deck.

They are open from 10am to 5pm, from Nov 1 through April 15. Admission and parking are FREE.