Areas
Weedon Island, Tampa Bay's quiet shore.
Tunnel Vision launches at Weedon Island Preserve, on the western shore of Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg.
About the preserve and the trail
Weedon Island Preserve is a 3,190-acre natural area on the western shore of Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, managed by Pinellas County. A sample kayak company here starts every request with the questions a guide actually needs: who is paddling, their experience and the time of day.
The preserve's South Paddling Trail is a 4-mile loop through mangrove tunnels and seagrass flats between islands. The Tunnel Run and the First Paddle are written around that trail.
The trail is best paddled at mid to high tide, so a tide chart comes before a time. Tunnel Vision's guides ask for a window, and a person confirms the time that suits the water.
Weedon Island is also a designated archaeological area with shell mounds, and a 40-foot dugout canoe found there is believed to be about 1,100 years old. The Shell Mounds and Stories tour lets a guide talk through that history, and the preserve’s Cultural and Natural History Center, which opened in December 2002, covers the same ground.
Sources
Every fact above, and where it came from.
The office
Find the office
100 Central AvenueSt. Petersburg, FL 33701
(656) 236-2374
A sample address, not a real location, and a Bots On Staff demonstration phone line. A person confirms the meeting point and parking when they reply.
Send a request. A person writes back.
The mangroves can wait. Nothing is booked or held until a person confirms by email or a call, and no payment is taken here.