BEST HOVERCRAFT RIDE
HoverCraft USA

Unless you own your own hovercraft — and some people really do — the best and only hovercraft ride in Florida, the Southeast and possibly the nation departs from either The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg or Blackthorne Memorial Park at the north end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Contact HoverCraft USA for the schedule, which has changed in the past and changes also with the season. Although the regularly scheduled trip is out to Egmont Key, where you take in a little beach walk, a swim and nature observation, the hovercraft can be rented for parties and weddings too. Boat or aircraft? You decide. Either way, a hovercraft is a fascinating machine. The hovercraft rises and rides on a cushion of air, which is trapped by a neoprene curtain. The craft sails over land, waves and sandbars, up onto the beach or out into Tampa Bay. Most hovercraft are designed for military use, and unless you are assaulting a beachhead, most of us rarely get to ride one. Here's your chance. Only a few hovercraft have been involved in commercial transportation, including one across the English Channel, now apparently defunct. Thus riding a commercial hovercraft will be a truly unique experience.

HoverCraft USA, 972 Weedon Drive N.E., St. Petersburg, 866-FLY-HOVER or www.hover-usa.com.

BEST PLACE TO SLEEP

WITH BIG KITTIES
Wildlife on Easy Street

Wildlife on Easy Street was originally started to provide a home for some really big kitties saved from the fur trade. It has expanded to include rescued animals other than the remarkable large cats. While the rescued animals at this privately run organization have included otters and peacocks, the primary reason to take a tour is to see wildcats, such as Bengal tigers, Canadian lynx, ocelots, Florida panthers, snow leopards, Siberian lynx, cougars and the ever present bobcats. While sometimes it was hard to tell who was petting whom, the physically touched have included edgy ocelots, Canadian lynx which climbed up the back and removed most of the shirt, and semi-tame bobcats. It is best to call in advance to find out when the scheduled tours are taking place, and to book a spot, since capacity is limited. Among the other possibilities is bed and breakfast with a wildcat, usually a bobcat. Proceeds are recycled for the benefit of these magnificent animals.

Wildlife on Easy Street, 12802 Easy St., Tampa, 813-920-4130 or www.wildlifeeasyst.com.

BEST INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE(S)
Haslam's Bookstore and Inkwood Books

For those who own more books than silverware, Haslam's positively cannot be ignored. If the bookshelves in your house outnumber the chairs, you've already been there. Family-owned Haslam's has been operating at the same location for more than a half century, and rummaging through the shelves is like going on safari for bookophiles — here a rare Muriac, there plentiful Grishams, everywhere a Harry Potter. In addition to new and used books, there are titles often hard to find and out of print. Like Haslam's, Inkwood Books is run and operated by people who love books for people who read books. For a small store with a literary feel, Inkwood has a large variety of new titles and classics, and over the years has brought a number of authors to the community for appearances and signings. Going through Inkwood Books is like strolling through book-filled cubbyholes where a reader is sure to find a treasure. Of course, all with TRD (terminal reading disease) love superstores, with cappuccinos and music CDs, but if we want independents to survive, we should shop them too because if they are not nurtured and loved, they will be gone like the endangered species they have become — and then sorely missed.

Haslam's Bookstore, 2025 Central Ave., St. Petersburg, 727-822-8616; Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia, Tampa, 813-253-2638.

BEST OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT WITH GATOR TAIL
Skipper's Smokehouse

While swamp juice might not be for everyone, if you are looking for it, look no further. Swamp juice is served outdoors under the stars and the moon, where you can order gator tail, shrimp or smoked fish. Leave the suit and tie at home. It doesn't get more laid-back than Skipper's. Stay away if you don't like people dancing on picnic tables or hollering along with the music as if they were Janis Joplin. Over the years, various treasures at Skipper's have included Clarence "Gate Mouth" Brown, Trout Fishing in America, zydeco music, and Mary Gauthier, whose album Drag Queens and Limousines has tangible life experience, as do so many of Skipper's patrons. Forget about classical, easy listening or modern music for a while and join the tribe on Saturday nights. Another good thing about Skipper's — it is always a surprise. Groups include the great, the good, the mediocre and the awful, but it's always a great time, no matter. No one ever boos at Skipper's. Also, being unhappy is not encouraged.

Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa, 813-971-0666.

BEST WILDERNESS HIKING AND BICYCLING
Trout Creek, Morris Bridge Bicycle Area, Wilderness Park and Flatwoods

All four wilderness parks are on the eastern extension of Fletcher Avenue, known as Morris Bridge. Every one of them is remarkable and can be reached from I-75. Trout Creek and Wilderness Park lead to the Hillsborough River where there are scenic overlooks, including boardwalks and a gazebo. With the first brush of cool weather in fall, weary writers abandon their computers and head for Wilderness Park, located at the Morris Bridge on the Hillsborough River. Strolls on the boardwalk and along the old lumbering tram road have presented surprises of alligators, deer, turtles, otters, snakes and magnificent hawks, although surprises usually come one per visit. Mountain-biking trails extend from the bicycle area (on the south side of Morris Bridge and clearly marked) out to Flatwoods, where there are off-track trails, a 7-mile paved loop, and road-like paths that connect to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, an alternative entrance. At times, paddling Flatwoods has allowed observation of herd-like quantities of deer. Amazingly in 2000, a Florida panther was observed in Flatwoods. The panther was seen by dozens, and was reported to be so observable it was witnessed rolling on its back. Usually, all you see are the deer, the clouds, and hundreds of healthy-looking people peddling bicycles, zooming along on roller skates or just hiking.

BEST BRAVE MOVIE THEATER
Channelside 9

You enter the theater with popcorn and a Coke in hand, sit down, gaze around and find you are the only person in the movie theater. The sound of your teeth crunching popcorn is as loud as a tractor in the church-like silence. You can even hear the gulp when you swallow your Coke. Within a few minutes, and before the movie starts, a couple drifts in, being quiet as if approaching an altar, bringing the total number of watchers in the audience to three. It is possible you brought your significant other with you, but likely S.O. is next door watching Bruce Almighty or Legally Blond II. Two to three hours later, you have been mesmerized and moved by a movie like The Dancer Upstairs, Carnival Knowledge, Spellbound or Sunshine State. You owe this fine film experience, sans Hollywood almighty, to Channelside 9 (home of an IMAX), which bravely continues to show serious and not widely available films, despite the fact that attendance would probably be greater if they had instead shown something more mindlessly popular that went bang and had more special effects and more breasts in it. To witness fine filmmaking and to visit a theater committed to showing it, look at the area movie schedules, see what movie is playing only at Channelside and nowhere else in the area, and go see it.

Channelside 9, 615 Channelside Drive, Tampa, 813-221-0700.

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2003.