3 Best Sights in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

This is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sanctuary for the manatee. Kings Bay, around which manatees congregate in winter (generally from November to March), feeds crystal clear water into the river at 72°F year-round. This is one of the sure-bet places to see manatees in winter since hundreds congregate near this 90-acre refuge. The small visitor center has displays about the manatee and other refuge inhabitants.

If you want to get an even closer look at these gentle giants, several dive companies provide opportunities for you to swim among them—if you don't mind shelling out some extra cash, donning a wet suit, and adhering to some strict interaction guidelines. In warmer months, when most manatees scatter, the main spring is fun for a swim or scuba diving.

When pelicans and other birds become entangled in fishing lines, locals sometimes carry them to this nonprofit sanctuary dedicated to the rescue, repair, recuperation, and release of sick and injured birds. Formerly the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, this beachfront spot played a big role after the Gulf oil disaster in 2010. At times there are hundreds of land and sea birds in residence, including egrets, herons, gulls, terns, sandhill cranes, hawks, owls, and cormorants.

You may not be able to find monkeys in the wild in the Tampa Bay area (at least not naturally), but you can catch them bouncing around in their cages at this low-key facility. The alleged final home of Cheetah, the chimp who played Tarzan's sidekick for a couple of years in the 1930s, the sanctuary houses a whole slew of primates. One of the first you'll meet is Pongo, a massive Bornean orangutan; if he's in the right mood, he will greet you when you walk up.

The sanctuary also hosts baboons, lemurs, spider monkeys, macaques—you name it—many of them former pets or onetime laboratory test subjects that aren't deemed able to make it in the wild. There are also a few reptiles (you can get a picture of yourself holding a baby alligator) and a colorful array of birds. You may find the colorful plastic toys in the primate enclosures odd, but they actually serve to enhance the animals' senses.