What a place to spend an evening fishing. Even though I am wheelchair bound the pier was made for me to enjoy. I mostly catch catfish (I use frozen shrimp for bait) but I sometimes catch trout, whiting, ladyfish, and of course a stingray or two, crabs, and eels once in awhile I even catch a small bonett head shark once in a while, no matter I toss them all back. The fun is in the catching.
I have met so many friendly people from the Bay area and many from all around the world. It seems to be a good place to just take a cool evening stroll for many people.
A couple of things need to be repaired though. The water pipes were disconnected during the last construction at the approach to the pier and never reconnected. It was great to be able to use the water for washing your hands and cleaning up after fishing.
The boards on the flooring of the pier are in bad shape. Some have been replaced but the make trip hazards as they are new and don't aline themselves with the old weathered and worn boars they lay beside. I wish there was money in the budget to replace all the boards.

Even though there is a pier for fishing, that is not all that one can enjoy at Ballast Point Park. There are shade trees, a playground, benches, a small boat ramp, and horses across the way. It is public and free, but it is beside an exclusive looking yacht basin and club. I talked with people here who were very friendly and helpful. One local lady even gave me a map she had in her car when I told her that I didn't have a good one. She seemed surprised at how much I liked this little park, but I love simple things--if nature in all its beauty can be called simple.

The park obviously is a wonderful place for families and children. Throughout Tampa I was impressed by groups of children from summer camps/schools who were supervised by adults and learning so much in an area that has so much to teach them. I learned all about estuaries. A bay, I learned, is an estuary, a place where fresh water from rivers mix with the salt water from the sea. Tampa Bay is Florida's largest open sea estuary and is almost 400 sq. miles. It is a place for all kinds of fish, shellfish, and crustaceans, and there were certainly some strange looking creatures pulled in and tossed back for the entertainment of all while I was at Ballast Pt. Park. I was amused when a couple from England asked me for information about the area, and by now I felt as if I was beginning to understand it.

There were small sailboats on the bay. We could see the tall buildings of Tampa in the distance. It was peaceful and pleasant by the bay. There was an appropriate inscription by the pier. It was a tribute to someone who had been instrumental apparently in making the area what it is today. It said that he had been a lover of fishing. His ashes were spread on the water of the bay at Ballast Point. He obviously liked this spot, too.