Rough waters: Tampa Bay Watch addresses accusations of unfair advantages

The Tampa Bay Watch group has recently come under fire by commercial St. Pete Pier tenants, accusing the nonprofit marine education group of conducting commercial activities thus, creating unfair competition for businesses. 

“[Tampa Bay Watch] suddenly moves to commercial [docks], jumping a waitlist, and now they are doing dolphin tours, site seeing … plus they are advertising at The Pier. How is that fair to any of the other businesses that are on the strip?” Bill Waters, a local boat captain, said during a Thursday St. Petersburg City Council meeting. “This doesn’t pass the smell test.” 

There are currently 22 companies on a waitlist for a commercial dock. 

The discussion on Tampa Bay Watch taking a commercial slip follows a hearing and staff report requested by councilmembers after receiving an advertisement for a “winter wonderland boat tour” held aboard Tampa Bay Watch’s research vessel.  

The Tampa Bay Watch group and Chris Ballestra, managing director of development for the city, cleared the air about Tampa Bay Watch’s operations and the language in the lease. 

In 2016, Ballestra explained, Tampa Bay Watch was selected to operate an educational research facility at the new St. Pete Pier. The proposal included language pertaining to managing a vessel. 

The lease was signed in 2018 and under the agreement, it stated Tampa Bay Watch would not be required to pay rent to the city for the educational facility and that it could have a courtesy dock. It was all reflected in the lease, Ballestra reiterated.

The rumor that the commercial dock was made available to Tampa Bay Watch by evicting a previous tenant, he stated, is false. 

“We asked to go to a commercial slip for several reasons, including the fact we couldn’t provide signage and we wouldn’t have to move our boat twice a day from the temporary slips,” Tampa Bay Watch CEO Dwayne Virgint said.

Ballestra also shared some history of Pier Dolphin Cruises.  

He said Pier Dolphin Cruises started in the ’80s under a different ownership group. It was then purchased in 2020. 

Ballestra noted how Pier Dolphin Cruises also filed a complaint against a tiki hut vessel operating out of the marina, which had the permits to do so. 

St. Pete resident Ken Grimes, a captain of the Pier Dolphin Cruises and runs an aviation business, also spoke in opposition. 

“I’m in the aviation business and we aggressively compete, it’s a simple playbook. We get ourselves next to them [a competing service] at a gate and we match their routes and then slash our prices by 33% – that’s what’s happened here,” Grimes said. 

He continued and said the Tampa Bay Watch is able to advertise at the Pier and matches the Pier Dolphin Cruise’s routes and times, but charges much less. 

The overall conclusion from the councilmembers – the pair must be able to coexist as neighbors. 

“It’s important to me to have both of these vessels for our residents and visitors to enjoy,” Councilmember Gina Driscoll said. “We’ve got to find a way for this to work … no one is going away. Both groups are going to have to figure out how to coexist.” 

Ballestra said a relocation could be at hand for the Tampa Bay Watch vessel.