TECO, Tampa Electric Company, located in Apollo Beach, Florida has a wonderful viewing center for the public to come and view the manatees that come in the winter to warm themselves in the discharge waters coming out of the plant. They have a platform, boardwalk, snack shop, gift shop, education center, and a tank with stingrays that you can actually touch! When we were there, we saw some Tarpon and a couple of manatee that came close enough for me to get a picture.
The Nature Coast Botanical Gardens are managed by volunteers and is an actual nursery that grows and sells plants. The gardens have "owners" who plant and manage their own section of the gardens. They are open to the public to wander through and enjoy the various plants that they have there. We went on one of the days that the actual nursery was not open, but we did not go to buy anything anyway. The only downfall to going to gardens in the winter is that there are not many flowers in bloom. There was mostly greenery and very few flowers.
