Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 35; Flight Crew Total 4350; Flight Crew Type 400
Communication Breakdown; Situational Awareness; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Environment - Non Weather Related; Staffing; Human Factors
Uneventful 3 hour VFR flight from ZZZ1 at 16;500 feet.  Just after starting my VFR descent for SRQ was advised by ZJX Center that TPA Approach would not take the hand-off and told to squawk 1200. I switched to TPA Approach for SRQ airport and monitored frequency as I continued VFR descent to 8;500 feet - above the top of Class B.  After monitoring approach frequency for 5 minutes as I continued my VFR descent to 4;500 feet - above the top of the SRQ Class C; it was evident that the TPA Approach Controller was saturated so I switched to SRQ Tower.  I advised Tower that I would fly west beyond the Class C and descend to 1;100 feet - below the floor; before turning back to SRQ for VFR approach and landing. Tower worked me in perfectly on intersecting Runway 4.Although 121 traffic is down considerably; FAA now needs to assess the current flight activity - which for ZZZ Approach certainly exceeded the ability of 1 Controller to control all sectors; and add back controllers before someone gets hurt.
Pilot reported the flight was not accepted by TPA Approach Control due to staffing/workload issues. The Captain circumnavigated the area and proceeded VFR.