A Turn in Tampa

Two weeks into our trip we were in need of a major resupply. We had driven the five hours from Everglades to Tampa, which afforded all the provisioning we needed. Costco, Trader Joe’s, Home Depot – we spent the first day refilling the fridge, freezer and pantry, and buying a few things we needed for the trailer.

We stayed at Fort De Soto County Park, located on the tip of a key that juts out into the Gulf of Mexico near the opening of Tampa Bay just south of St. Petersburg. The location is spectacular and it was a bit of a shame to spend time away from it to do shopping. But we’re not on vacation, and the necessities of life prevail.

We made up for it the next day. In a serious commitment to fun and adventure, we got up at 4 a.m., and drove nearly two hours north to Crystal River. It’s there that manatees escape the cold waters by huddling near fresh water springs that emerge from the grounds at 72 degrees. It’s also one of the few places you can reliably snorkel with manatees. 

It was a chilly morning, with highs in the mid-60s, and we had started to regret opting for the 7 a.m. tour. We had heard that earlier tours see more manatees.

Fortunately, the tour operator provided us with wetsuits. After squeezing into them, we boarded a pontoon boat, which took us a couple of miles upriver to where one spring emerges. 

As soon as we anchored, the guides told us there’s a manatee chewing on the anchor rope. We entered the water but it was so cloudy that I couldn’t see anything. I was bracing myself for disappointment.

But our guide took us down a cordoned off portion of the river, and sure enough, there were maybe two dozen manatees, just hanging out. The larger ones – they can grow to 13 feet in length and weight up to 1,300 pounds – seemed content resting on the river bed, rising every so often to break the surface and take a breath, before returning to their peaceful repose. When they come up for air, they sound a little bit like someone blowing their nose. 

The younger ones are a bit more inquisitive and interact more with snorkelers. You’re supposed to just float there, and let the manatees come up to you. Some people broke the rules, reaching to touch the manatees as they floated by.

For some unknown reason, there were a couple of snorkelers that got the full monty manatee experience, with a young pup pinning their arm or leg between a flipper and their body, or nibbling on one body part or another.

The manatees have no natural predators, so they didn’t mind the hoard of snorkelers around them. Many had scars in their thick rubby hides from encounters with boat propellers. Our guide told us those are almost like paper cuts to them. The unlucky encounters are when a boat hits a manatee at full speed. The impact can injure or kill them.

We spent a good hour in the water with the manatees, before swimming back to our boat and enjoying some warm hot chocolate on the way back. 

The early start meant we still had an afternoon to ourselves when we returned to Fort DeSoto Park, so we hopped on our bikes. The bike paths in the park run between North and East beaches, with beautiful views of the Gulf of Mexico. 

The following day we drove down to Venice to visit Mrs. 123’s aunt and uncle. They retired to Florida about 10 years ago, and graciously played both post office and laundromat to help us out. They gave us a tour of the city, starting with the jetty where we saw dolphins in the water and fishermen on the shore. Then we walked up and down the pier, watching the pelicans who decided it was a lot easier to hang out and wait for the fishermen to give them something than to go and fish for themselves.

Venice has a lovely downtown that has banned chain restaurants and shops. While there are plenty of tourists there, it doesn’t have the touristy vibe of other cities in Florida we’ve visited. The city also has an arboretum with maybe two dozen different species of palm trees from all over the world. Signs describe where the palms grow naturally and what use man has derived from them.

We ended up going to an early dinner at the Dockside Waterfront Grill, a restaurant right alongside the marina. Mrs. 123 had some tuna and I had a fried grouper sandwich, washed down with a Coral Head IPA from the Tampa Bay Brewing Company. It was lovely to laugh and catch up with family we hadn’t seen since before the pandemic.

We piled our Amazon packages and clean laundry back into the truck, and drove back to the campground.

We didn’t get to see much of Tampa, but it was a productive three days nonetheless.

Days: 18

Miles traveled: 2952

Next stop: Naples