When we say love for our customers and the community is part of our nature at TECO, that includes the spectacular environmental attraction we present to you – opening Nov. 1 with free parking and admission – where nature takes center stage: Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach.
Safe, reliable power is great. (A company with the largest percentage of its generation from solar power among Florida utilities – even better.) Also very valuable: low rates our customers pay and convenient options to make their payments and ways to save energy. But a company like Emera that knows how important it is to give back to the community? Examples don’t come much bigger and more fun than the Manatee Viewing Center.
Have you visited us lately? The center is better than ever, with more to experience and see up close (and from far, too, atop our 50-foot observation tower with outstanding views of the Tampa Bay area). You’ve been to Disney’s attractions, been to Busch Gardens, and as great as they are, sometimes you just want something a bit more meditative and immersed in nature…and FREE!
Welcome to a place that well over five million people from around the world can tell you about. One that TripAdvisor, the “world’s largest travel website” said was a world-class destination.
For newcomers, just picture it: when the water temperature of Tampa Bay is 68 degrees Fahrenheit or colder, the massive, clean-water canal between our large viewing platforms and Big Bend Power Station absolutely fills with manatees – noses poking out of the water, lounging and mingling, every now and then doing a barrel roll. Meanwhile there’s Big Bend Power Station, rising to the north as it generates safe, reliable power to keep the community running. It’s the site of big changes in the works, including Unit 1 converting to natural gas combined-cycle technology. This builds on all the emission controls we’ve installed at the station to improve air and water quality over the decades.
Inside the education building, with cool displays in their backlit glow, is everything you want to know about manatees (there are kids’ games too!); this is right around the corner from the outdoor South Shore Cafe, where you can get a hot dog and other snacks as your journey continues. At ground-level, stroll past our gardens with their native, Florida-friendly, butterfly-enticing plants, a glimpse of what so many yards in this area could be. And don’t forget the rays touch tank! These are your actual Tampa Bay Rays – as in stingrays, cownose rays and horseshoe crabs that happen to be the Major League Baseball team’s mascots – brought to you by that other one-of-a-kind local treasure, the Florida Aquarium.
You might walk on our trails amid the trees and buzzing vegetation after that (good shoes for a mile-long round-trip helps), thinking about how beautiful natural Florida is when we take time to really see it.
Oh, but that’s not all. The Florida Conservation and Technology Center is right down the trail, a partnership between Tampa Electric, the University of Florida, the Florida Aquarium and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with its kayaks and its educational programs and community event space and so much more.
Right across the street, next to the sprawling habitat we helped restore, it’s our massive solar field, which was the biggest of its kind in the Tampa Bay area when it debuted in 2017. Now it’s getting ready to grow as part of the 600 megawatts of solar power we’re bringing you in the coming years.
It all starts with that decision you make that morning, or days before: “I want to escape the busy world for a bit. I want to see this incredible place in Apollo Beach. I want to experience nature in a different way.” (Check the weather ahead of time, of course.) And see yourself spending a few hours, for free, at this magically unique world that Tampa Electric, and all of Emera, are proud to share with you.
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