TAMPA, FL
TAMPA, FLORIDA TRAVEL GUIDE | Tampa turned out to be a bit of a surprise for me. My family and I planned a trip to visit my grandparents, and I had never been to Florida before, so had no idea what to expect. After some research of the Tampa area, we came up with a good itinerary for our few short days there.
We ate brunch at the beautiful Oxford Exchange, a restaurant, bookshop, coffee shop, store, and event space in town. I had a delicious French toast with berries over the top. The building is amazing, you walk from the bright white, skylight lit interior of the restaurant to the dark-wood paneled lounge area by the coffee bar with a grand staircase lined with photographs and artwork. I loved it all!
We wandered around the property of the famous, pink Don CeSar Hotel in Tampa, and the drove up to Clearwater where we walked along the white sands of Clearwater Beach, right at sunset. It was breathtaking, and busy! There were street performers, locals, tourists…everyone was out along the sidewalks lining the beach.
One day we headed out of town and up to Tarpon Springs, a small town that is known for its sponge diving. There is a large greek population that settled in Tarpon Springs a while back, and they made their living diving down into the water for ocean sponges and selling them! It was such a cool place to walk around. There were Greek restaurants and sponge shops on every corner, and the harbor was lined with old wooden boats, flying the greek flag, that they still take out to harvest the sponges. There are tours where they take you out on one of the boats and have a trained diver demonstrating a dive in a traditional dive suit! It was a fascinating place; a small taste of Greece in Florida!
Our last day we spent in Crystal River, where we dawned wetsuits and snorkel gear and headed out into alligator infested waters with Crystal River Watersports in search of Manatees! The first spot we only saw one, and it was HUGE! No matter how much you understand in you mind about how big they are, it does not come close to what the manatees look like in person. So amazing! After twenty minutes or so in that spot we headed back to the boat and to a shallower, clearer spot where a whole herd was resting! One came within a foot of me and my mom, looking into my eyes…just the cutest thing ever. One of the best things about Crystal River Watersports were our guides. Their top priority was to make sure that everyone was respecting the wildlife. It was obvious when we saw other people from different tour companies there, how great Crystal River Watersports was at helping us to understand the respectful and right way to be in the water with these beautiful creatures. I highly recommend checking them out if you want to do a manatee tour!
HELPFUL LINKS:
TIPS:
- If you want to go on a manatee tour, book the earliest tour of the day, as the manatees are most active. Push through the fact that you may need to wake up at 4:30 to be there on time, it is worth it!
- SLIDESHOW -
