It’s a Surreal World After All
Visit the fantastical Tampa Bay area at your own risk. It’s more bizarre than you think.
The spaceship-like building at the end of St. Petersburg Pier
At precisely 11:11 on 1/11/11, the Dalí Museum — home to the largest collection of the mustachioed artist’s works outside of his native Spain — will celebrate its opening in St. Petersburg. The date and time is fitting for a celebration of the world’s most famous surrealist painter — just be sure to set your melting pocket watch so you don’t miss the party.
Just as Dalí’s signature style dwells in the dreamlike and bizarre, the Tampa Bay area pulses with otherworldly drama and fantasy. It’s a place where underwater beings like mermaids and manatees coexist with tail-less dolphins.
Take, for instance, the nearly 85-year-old St. Petersburg Pier. The quarter-mile-long structure is straight-forward enough, with fishing catwalks, bait shops and charter excursions. But wait: What’s that at the end? It appears to be a glass pyramid flipped upside-down, balancing precariously on its apex.
But look fast: The five-story futuristic building, which opened in 1973, seems like it could blast off any second like something out of Battlestar Galactica — especially when it’s aglow in vibrant colors at night. And when you step inside, you’ll gaze around in awe, astounded that the architect (local William B. Harvard Sr.) managed to fit more than a dozen specialty shops and restaurants, a food court and the Pier Aquarium inside.
When you’re back on solid ground, look closely at the water around the pier, keeping your eyes open for the occasional bulge of what looks like an underwater blimp. There’s no telling what Captain Nemo would have done if he’d come face to face with a manatee; this prehistoric, unfathomable creature weighs up to 3,650 pounds and can eat up to 10% of its weight in a day.
At Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park, you can actually descend into an underwater observatory to watch at whiskered snout level as the bizarre beasts feed at the “salad bar” (a manatee’s menu of carrots, lettuce, cabbage and other goodies). But the ultimate way to experience manatees — which, strangely enough, sailors once mistook for mermaids (how much rum were they drinking?) — is to snorkel with them in the Crystal River. They’ll approach you curiously but non-aggressively, and you’re allowed to pet and scratch their burlap-like skin with one hand.
Manatees’ resemblance to mermaids may be a bit far-fetched, but how about this for fanciful: Live mermaids — hold the whiskers — can be found at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Spring Hill. This Old Florida attraction has been staging underwater shows since 1947. Visitors gather in a theater beneath the springs in front of a glass window that provides a stage for the water goddesses with shimmering tails. By taking gulps of air through special hoses and displaying amazing breath-holding prowess, these lovely sirens dance to theme music in the crystalline water.
If Weeki Wachee makes you feel like you’re part of Ariel’s world, the Brooker Creek Preserve Environmental Education Center in Tarpon Springs will transport you to Alice’s wonderland, where the big gets small and the small gets, er, big. Youngsters reach their Honey, I Shrunk the Kids teeniest when they find themselves tunneling through a gopher tortoise burrow, which, in real life, measures less than a foot wide. The center has expanded the burrow to five times the size of a true habitat so that even adults can wriggle through to encounter tortoise eggs, rattlesnakes and other surprises.
One of the most inspiring surprises in the area, however, can be found at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium: a tail-less dolphin named Winter. The indomitable animal came to the rehab facility in 2005 after her tail got stuck in a crab trap. She eventually lost her tail and now wears a prosthesis. Watching Winter move in the water (or wading with her in a special program) is nothing short of unbelievable. (And don’t miss Winter on the big screen this fall in the 3-D film Dolphin Tale, also starring Morgan Freeman, Harry Connick Jr. and Ashley Judd.)
One can only wonder what Dalí would have made of a tail-less dolphin — but there’s no doubt he’d have felt right at home in the topsy-turvy world of Tampa Bay.
THE DALÍ MUSEUM
One Dalí Blvd, St. Petersburg (24 miles from Tampa); 727-823-3767; thedali.org
ST. PETERSBURG PIER
800 Second Ave NE, St. Petersburg (24 miles from Tampa); 727-821-6443; stpetepier.com
HOMOSASSA SPRINGS WILDLIFE STATE PARK
4150 S Suncoast Blvd, Homosassa (68 miles from Tampa); 352-628-5343; floridastateparks.org/homosassasprings
WEEKI WACHEE SPRINGS STATE PARK
6131 Commercial Way, Spring Hill (50 miles from Tampa); 352-592-5656; floridastateparks.org/weekiwachee
BROOKER CREEK PRESERVE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTER
3940 Keystone Rd, Tarpon Springs (24 miles from Tampa); 727-453-6800; brookercreekpreserve.org
CLEARWATER MARINE AQUARIUM
249 Windward Passage, Clearwater (23 miles from Tampa); 727-441-1790; seewinter.com
Reader Comments
- Chelle Koster Walton
Great article. Your imagry of the Pier is fantastic!
Dad would have loved to see your article.
Lee Harvard, Harvard Jolly Architects (Posted on 27 Jan 2011)
