Tampa Bay may not rank with the Florida Keys or the Cayman Islands as an international dive destination, but improvements in water quality over the last 20 years have made the bay in our backyard a great place to spend a day.
With an average depth of just 12 feet, Tampa Bay is an easy dive for almost anyone. Even if you're not an expert swimmer, you can see an abundance of marine life just hanging on to a noodle float and drifting over seagrass beds with a facemask and snorkel.
But while the diving is easy, photography is far more challenging. For one thing, the really cool-looking fish seem to be the fastest-moving. For another, the water keeps moving too so even if you manage to frame the fish you want, it may not be in focus. For an in-depth — and in focus — look at the fascinating animals that live in Tampa Bay, revisit Jimmy White's amazing collection of undersea life in the Winter 2011 issue of Bay Soundings.
If you're looking for sealife, avoid the white sand beaches bordering the Gulf of Mexico and focus more on the calmer inshore waters of the bay. You can wade out to seagrass beds from almost any location along the bay — choose one close to your home so it's convenient enough to visit often.
If you have a boat, or want to make a day of snorkeling, visit Egmont Key, the historic island at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Healthy seagrass beds off the island's eastern shore are home to an amazing variety of wildlife, from dolphins and manatees to small fish and crabs as well as more-exotic sea anemone and colorful sponges and an occasional shark.
Off the western shore, where erosion has wiped out nearly a third of the island's landmass, ruins of historic Fort Dade rise from the bottom of the sea. The stone buildings, originally built to defend the region during the Spanish-American War, resemble even more ancient structures from an underwater vantage. The vertical walls in deeper water attract different kinds of wildlife, including mackerel and barracuda feeding on forage fish that dart past in giant schools.
The southern tip of Egmont is a year-round bird sanctuary. Beach-nesting birds line the shoreline during summer months. Migratory birds, including the distinctive roseate spoonbills and white pelicans, fly in for the winter. They can be seen from a boat offshore but access is strictly prohibited. (Learn more about beach-nesting birds.)
Other favorite places for snorkeling in Tampa Bay include:
If your favorite location isn't included, please email us at editor@baysoundings.com. We'll include your comments on the Bay Soundings webpage.
Boaters in Tampa Bay generally are not used to seeing people submerged in the water outside of designated swimming areas at bayfront parks. And it's often difficult for boaters to see snorkelers. Make sure you're visible!
Save the Date – Saturday, August 27
Tampa Bay's premier snorkeling event is scheduled for Saturday, August 27, when a small flotilla of pleasure boats embarks upon the Great Bay Scallop Search. Held annually since 1993, it's a joint effort between Tampa Bay Watch and the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to monitor scallop populations.
Once plentiful in Tampa Bay, scallops are extremely sensitive to water quality and practically disappeared for many years. As water quality improved, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute began restocking Tampa Bay. The number of scallops discovered during the search rebounded from 75 in 1996 to a record-setting 674 in 2009.
Last year only 32 scallops were found as part of the search, but scientists are hopeful that weather conditions caused the problem and the scallops will return to their 2009 levels. "We had a lot of rain right before last year's search and the runoff really made the visibility drop," notes Kevin Misiewicz, TBW environmental scientist. "We had some people saying they couldn't see much more than a foot in front of them."
The rain may also have caused water temperature in the bay to drop temporarily which could have pushed the scallops into spawning early, Misiewicz said. Like salmon, scallops die after they spawn.
It's difficult to predict what searchers will discover this year, he adds. "We've seen some small scallops already – hopefully there are a lot more out there just hiding until they've grown up some."
Scallops are bivalves in the same family as oysters and clams. They spend their short lives – about 12 to 18 months – living, feeding and growing in seagrass beds. While they're only about three inches across at maturity, a line of about 60 bright-blue eyes lining their mantle makes them easy to distinguish.
Participation in the Great Bay Scallop Search is limited to 35 boats and 150-200 swimmers with registration open on a first-come, first-served basis beginning about the middle of July. Fifty meter transect lines are laid across seagrass beds and snorkelers count the scallops they sight within one meter of each side of the line. A limited number of kayaks may participate, and snorkelers without boats may be matched with open space on registered boats. To register, or to be notified when registration opens, visit www.tampabaywatch.org.