Apollo Beach is an unincorporated, census-designated community in Hillsborough County, Florida, on the southeastern shore of Tampa Bay, about 20 miles south of downtown Tampa. Unlike many Florida coastal towns, it is not a natural beach settlement; rather, it is a deliberately engineered waterfront community, conceived in the 1930s by developer Paul Dickman and built out beginning in the 1950s, when its waterways were dredged to create a network of canals. That canal system, totaling more than 50 miles, is the defining feature of the community, giving thousands of homes direct or nearby access to Tampa Bay. Life in Apollo Beach is oriented toward the water. Residents boat, fish, and kayak from their backyards, and the community's identity is tied to Tampa Bay's estuaries and mangrove shorelines. The TECO Manatee Viewing Center, operated at Tampa Electric's Big Bend Power Station, is a notable free attraction where Florida manatees gather in the warm-water discharge during cooler months, drawing visitors to boardwalks and viewing platforms. The presence of the power station, with its manatee habitat, is itself a distinctive part of Apollo Beach's landscape. Residentially, the community includes a mix of canal-front single-family homes, gated subdivisions, and more modest inland neighborhoods, many with a relaxed, coastal-suburban feel. U.S. Route 41 runs through the area, connecting it to Tampa to the north and Bradenton and Sarasota to the south, while Interstate 75 lies just to the east. Public schools belong to Hillsborough County Public Schools. Apollo Beach suits households drawn to waterfront living, boating, and a quieter, spread-out alternative to Tampa's denser suburbs, with the bay and its wildlife literally at the doorstep.