The Manatee

Today we flew home from Tampa. Our flight left in the afternoon, so we had some time in the morning to do some last day sightseeing. We drove out to the Manatee Viewing Center just south of Tampa by the Big Bend Power Station. The background is the powerstation, and in the foreground in the water, those little black circles, are the backs of the Manatee that have come into the bay to warmer waters that are being heated by the power plant. The temperature on the thermometer out there registered 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the bay water, while the water out in the ocean was quite a few degrees cooler. What an interesting concept of how the electric plant is helping the manatee. The brochure calls it "where nature meets technology".