Places to watch sail away in Tampa?

Hi all! We will be in Tampa a day early for our cruise and we would like to watch the sail away for the Carnival Paradise. Can anyone recommend a place to go and watch her go down the channel that's in or close to Tampa? We will be renting a car so we can travel a little if needed. I know we can watch it from the Channelside area, but we will be in town during Gasparilla and the Channelside area will be a madhouse! Can anyone suggest a good place?

short answer - no there is no place. The channel heads south thru a heavy industrial area on one side and the air force base on the other. And then the bay gets really wide.

If you want to get 'out there' you can head to StPete and either the Sunshine Skyway Bridge area or Ft Desoto. Ships tend to pass under the bridge around 6 to 7 or so, and then Ft Desoto is another 20 to 30 minutes west of that.

I was looking at the Tampa area on Goolge Maps and it looks like you can watch the ship sail past the Davis Island Dog Park. It is just south of the Peter O'Knight airfield.

I agree with the recommendation about going over to Sunshine Skyway somewhere. There is a pulloff on either side before you go over the bridge, if I remember correctly. We had fun doing this after our first cruise with our kids out of Tampa on the Carnival Inspiration. We had sailed UNDER it on our way out on the cruise the week before and then we drove OVER it and watched the ship sail away without us :( the day we returned from our cruise. (Stayed in Tampa an extra day) Kind of cool! You can see it coming out, watch it pass under and sail out and away...

Go to Davis Island. You can park you car and watch it sail right on by. Done it numerous times.

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Go to Davis Island. You can park you car and watch it sail right on by. Done it numerous times.

 

Since you live in Tampa, maybe you can help a little more. We will be in town on the 26th and that's when we would be watching the ships sail, but it's Gasparilla and I'm wondering if it will be easy to get to Davis Island? I know we would have to take Hyde Park Ave and that's really close to where the parade starts. Is it safe to say that the crowds should be closer to the downtown area and Channelside by 4pm?

If you have a rental car and want to avoid the Tampa traffic and get a great, close-up of the Paradise, hop on I-275 and take it over the Howard Franklin Bridge into St. Pete. You will drive about 20 min or so then look for the sign for the Pinellas Bayway. Exit, go through a toll $1 I believe, then go about a mile in the left lane for the Ft.Desoto turn off. Once you enter Fort Desoto ($5 entree fee per car unless you have a handicapped tag) you will come to a 3 way stop and have to turn either left or right. Take the left and go all the way to the end. There is a small beach area and a fantastic view of the Paradise going underneath the Skyway bridge. In addition, if you get there early, you can also enjoy the other amenities that Ft. Desoto has to offer. The Fort (free self guided tour, snack bar, beaches, fishing, canoe and kayak rentals, bike rentals etc......

http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm

The ship goes under the Skyway apx 2 hours after it leaves port, so sometime around 6pm give or take a few.

:)

Davis Island is very close to downtown. 4pm would be about the worst possible time to try to do this during Gasparilla. I am not sure what the traffic patterns are for Gasparilla but I imagine that you could probably get to Davis Island, mainly because the hospital is there. But to answer your question, no I would not anticipate this being easy. Not trying to discourage you, just trying to give you a realistic idea of what to expect. If you did make it to Davis Island that is only half the battle, you still have to make it back off. I would expect this to take most of the afternoon 2-6pm, for a 10 minute wave-by. However if you don't have anything better to do, and want to approach it like an adventure, than maybe it would be fun.

Most days, the dog park on Davis Island would be a great place to watch the ship sail by. However, I think you'd be making a big mistake to try to get out there & back on Gasparilla day. ALL of the downtown area will be a madhouse.

I'm not even sure that you'd be able to get there; even if you could, you'd be in the middle of a drunken mob.

Where are you staying?

Does anyone know what downtown will be like on Sunday morning - January 26 the day after Gasparilla?

We are flying in on the 24th, sailing on the 26th, we are staying at a hotel in rocky point, will we have traffic issues on the 26th with the festival, or is this party any where near rocky point? We are not renting a car, so no driving for us, probably a good thing if it will be busy that weekend.

Does anyone know what downtown will be like on Sunday morning - January 26 the day after Gasparilla?

On the 26th things will be pretty quiet, other than the cleanup crews. Most everyone else downtown will be too hung over to produce traffic, noise, or crowds.

can you see the paridise go under the bridge from here?

can you see the paridise go under the bridge from here?

The only place that you would be able to see the ship sail under the Skyway Bridge would be Ft.Desoto park in St.Petersburg. It is a $5 per car fee. After entering the park, turn left at the "T" and go to the end.

There is a turn-about circle. Pull over to the side, stake out a spot and bring binoculars for a close-up view.

Info about Ft. Desoto is on this thread a few posts up.

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