Florida: Day 8

We started our last day out early - 6:30 am to be exact. We got up to watch the sunrise over the bay. I don't know if I'd ever really sat and watched the sunrise before - very quiet in the bay with just the sea and the round orange ball in the sky slowly making its way into the sky. After about 30 minutes we walked across the street and along the gulf shore in search of shells.

After packing up all our stuff, we headed to Tampa to visit the Lowry Park Zoo. It's a really nice zoo - reminded us somewhat of Grant's Farm in St. Louis. We attended the manatee education session where we learned that the Tampa Zoo can care for up to 15 rescued manatees at a time - and when they return them to the wild they release them in the same place they were found - even if that is pretty far away from the zoo. They had 12 manatees there, including a mother and calf.

Next we got to feed sting rays which was really cool. Their mouths kind of felt like suction cups and sponges. You held a piece of shrimp or frozen fish between your fingers sticking up, then place your hand in their tank and they'd swim over your hand and suck the food into their mouths.


In the children's zoo area Tom's shoes got attacked by budgie birds, I fed some goats, and we both fed the lorikeets nectar from a little cup.

I uploaded all the pics from today to my Tampa Zoo album.