Manatees swimming along the beach in St Petersburg, FL. This is the time of year that the Manatees that gather in Tampa Bay during the winter start moving around a lot. Although most of them are found in the bays, bayous, and intracoastal waterway, they can also been seen at the beach and will never be far from shore when they are. People usually don't see the Manatees when they swim along the beach because of sun glare on the water. If you want to see more manatees, wear polarized glasses. . .