The Tampa Tea 🍵(April 21)

Welcome to The Tampa Tea!

In today’s edition:

• PLAYOFF HOCKEY IN TAMPA!

• RIP the Cross Bay Ferry

• And more…

I Have Some Terrible News

The Cross Bay Ferry is getting canceled on April 30th.

The Hidden Gem of Tampa, taking you across the bay to St. Pete…

With a bar on board…

For $12…

Is no more. Just a complete disaster.

Apparently the ferry company is going bankrupt, and the city just canceled their contract.

More info on it here, with a special feature from yours truly:

Hopefully someone steps in with a replacement ferry in the near future…

Because for the price, this is (was) one of the best attractions in Tampa.

If you haven’t taken the ferry yet, I highly highly recommend you do so before April 30th.

Playoff Hockey in Tampa

In more positive news, playoff hockey is back in Tampa!

The Lightning kick off their Stanley Cup run with Game 1 tomorrow night against the Panthers at Amalie Arena.

The game starts at 8:30 PM, which is BY FAR the latest start I’ve ever seen for a Lightning game. No clue why it was scheduled like this.

But, if you plan on going out to watch the game, here are a few options:

Going to the Game

There is absolutely nothing better than a playoff hockey game at Amalie Arena.

The atmosphere, the energy in the building, the energy…

Are all unreal.

I would highly recommend going to game 1 on Tuesday or game 2 on Thursday if you haven’t seen a Lightning playoff game yet.

Get your tickets here - I usually buy my tickets the day of the game because the price goes down with people undercutting each other to get their tickets sold.

Thunder Alley

If you want to experience a game surrounded by 100s of fans, but don’t want to drop $100+ on actual tickets, the Lightning host a watch party in Thunder Alley for every playoff game.

You’ll be seated right outside the arena, with the game being played on a massive screen for a huge crowd of people.

This is the closest thing you’ll get to actually being at the game.

Tickets are $5 - grab them here

Yard House

Yard House is directly across the street from the arena, and it’ll be packed before and after the game.

If you’d prefer to watch on TV in a bar atmosphere, I’d recommend Yard House since you’ll be surrounded by people going to the game if you get there early.

Hattricks

Hattricks is the unofficial “Lightning Bar”.

Every single TV in the place will have the game on, it will be PACKED out, and the wings are phenomenal here.

If you want to get a seat at Hattricks for the game, I’d recommend showing up WAY early. Like 630 PM for an 830 PM start time.

Sparkman Wharf

Sparkman Wharf is another great option - the outdoor beer garden will be showing the game and it’ll be packed out.

Plenty of room to hangout / sit, and you won’t be packed into a crowded bar.

I think the Lightning will make a run deep into the playoffs, so there will be PLENTY of games coming up…

It will be a fun couple weeks in Tampa!

Wrapping up

Playoff hockey season is my favorite time of the year in Tampa.

Not too humid out yet, everybody out watching the games, more energy in the city…

Makes losing the ferry a little bit better.

If you have any questions about the games, or Tampa in general, don’t hesitate to respond back to this and I’ll help out!

→ Christian