坦帕电’s award-winning Manatee Viewing Center opens Wednesday for the season.
This year the Manatee Viewing Center will include a new viewing platform, to allow visitors to get even closer to the manatees. The new platform opens Nov. 15. TECO has revamped the Education Center and also has added two new electric golf carts, to help transport guests from the remote parking lot.
“We’re pleased we can offer our guests additional elbow room – and the opportunity to see the manatees from an even closer vantage point,斯坦·克洛说, manager of Land and Stewardship 项目 for 坦帕电. “The Manatee Viewing Center is the showcase for 坦帕电’s commitment to environmental stewardship.”
The Manatee Viewing Center is the anchor attraction for the Florida Conservation and Technology Center (FCTC), which is a public-private partnership to feature both nature and technology. 坦帕电 provides the campus to its environmental partners for their important research and educational outreach. In addition to 坦帕电, the partners include The Florida Aquarium, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and the University of Florida.
The manatees have gathered in the canal to find refuge from the cold since the early 1970s. When the water temperature of Tampa Bay is 68 degrees or colder, manatees gather in the clean, warm water discharge canal of 坦帕电’s Big Bend Power Station, sometimes by the hundreds.
Visitors also can enjoy meeting the rays, critical animals that rely on a healthy Tampa Bay ecosystem – and even touch them gently as they glide past in the touch tank. Guests can hike the nature trail and take in the vistas from the 50-foot observation tower.
Each season, the center draws nearly 400,000 visitors – for a total of more than 7 million. Admission and parking at the Apollo Beach facility are free. And the boardwalks are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act for our guests’ convenience. Contributions are welcomed and will directly support protecting manatees, preserving their habitats and educating the public.
The Manatee Viewing Center’s regular hours are 10 a.m. 到5点.m. every day from Nov. 1 through April 15, except Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, when it is closed. (The facility closes at 3 p.m. 在平安夜.) Comfortable shoes and clothing are recommended. Please note that no pets are allowed, only trained service animals.
Visit the center online at TampaElectric.com/Manatee 或打电话 813-228-4289 for more information.
坦帕电, one of Florida’s largest investor-owned electric utilities, 服务约830人,000 customers in West Central Florida. 坦帕电 is a subsidiary of Emera Inc., a geographically diverse energy and services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
