The Apollo Beach manatee viewing center is actually pretty great, TBH. I've seen sharks, sting rays & a myriad of other aquatic life, while just chilling on the pier. Not to mention the many dozens of adorable floating potato-cows. I'd recommend checking it out if one's in the area during the cooler season.
Aye. Granted, I'm on Dynamis so my experience is going to be wildly different from, eg. Aether, but I've only had one occasion of long queues, and that was when Aether died. And even then, it was steady progress, unlike the Login Roulette of Endwalker.