It's getting to be very old news, this long spell of cloudy, drizzly, foggy, icky weather which now seems to be the new norm for winter in my part of the world. Once again, it's gotten to be more than I can handle, and once again I've turned to my favourite form of retail therapy to help me out. Travel shopping!
A big part of the problem was caused when I had to cancel my planned holiday right before Christmas due to catching a wicked virus which was likely RSV. Well, I'm over that now. I am so over it, and so over this winter.
This one is a bare bones holiday, less than a week long. In it, I will make a return visit to a favourite area of Florida which I have not visited now for six years, the west coast between St. Petersburg Beach and Clearwater Beach.
"Florida!" I can hear people saying. "Lucky you!"
Well, yes -- but not perhaps in the way you are thinking. There's a reason why the pool is dead empty on such a gorgeous sunny day. It's because the air temperature was only 8 C (46 F). The weather here in January is more comparable to an Ontario spring than anything hotter. That is actually why I like being here. I can enjoy long walks without getting overheated, and all my favourite restaurants and shops are much less crowded.
So is Tampa International Airport, which remains one of my all-time favourite airports due to its relatively compact design and layout. From Tampa International, you can reach almost any destination on the islands in under an hour of driving. I needed just 30 minutes. Also serving the area is the smaller St. Petersburg/ Clearwater International Airport.
And the pool is heated!
The long stretch of barrier islands reaching from Clearwater to St. Petersburg comprises no less than eleven separate and distinct municipalities. None of them have a population greater than 10,000 people, while several have less than 2,000. The smallest is Belleair Shore, which was established in 1955 and has a population of just 109 people. Most of these communities are called "cities" (which I find a bit laughable, given their small size) while a couple more modestly stick to "town." These communities are certainly distinct and distinctive in more ways than just in name only.
To get in between these places you travel north and south on Florida Route 699 (Gulf Boulevard), which is the "main street" of all these island communities. Here are the eleven, in order from north to south. The locations marked with the >< have direct road links to and from the mainland via a bridge or causeway.
>< Clearwater Beach (including the adjacent island of Sand Key):
This is the high-rise capital of the coast. Much of this high-rise construction has taken place in the last decade, crowding out the older and smaller motels and family-run businesses which used to occupy this island.
The white-and-blue Opal Sands Resort on Clearwater's South Beach was under construction when I last came here. It's appears to be already expanding with not one but two new buildings under construction on the inland side of the beachfront road, a construction site which looks as if it could double or even triple the existing generous capacity of the hotel. That's if all the new construction is in fact part of the Opal Sands. Certainly, one of the two new structures is being connected to the existing resort by a footbridge over Gulfview Boulevard.
The brand-new and definitely eye-catching Hiatus wraps around and completely overshadows an old traditional Florida eatery, one of the very few survivors of the high-rise building rampage: Frenchy's South Beach Cafe.
The huge pink Hyatt Regency and the Wyndham Grand just beyond it are also fairly new arrivals.
The beach itself is a broad expanse of fine sugary sand, which is well known for becoming airborne and drifting like snow on windy days. The city has to use heavy equipment to get the sand under control on the parking lots which serve the beach area. Even on a cold, windy January day, you'll always find a few people determined to enjoy the beach, and the sizable Pier 60 Clearwater, while they're here.
Clearwater Beach is the place you should come, not to get away from it all, but if you want to find it all waiting here for you. And the prices certainly reflect that fact.
>< Belleair Beach:
This town is more devoted to private homes than to visitor accommodations. Gulf Boulevard gets a bit wider here, and there are attractive grassy boulevard strips of land between the street and the sidewalks.
Belleair Shore:
This municipality with just 109 residents occupies only the ocean side of Gulf Boulevard for a short distance south of the Belleair Causeway, being surrounded on both east and north sides by Belleair Beach. From the look of houses as shown in satellite photos, the residents here are 109 very wealthy people, which may explains why they felt they "needed" a special municipality all to themselves.
>< Indian Rocks Beach & Indian Shores:
A dramatic contrast to Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach and its neighbour to the south, Indian Shores, show many smaller homes and accommodations, and a diverse assortment of old Florida architecture, with many commercial and residential buildings dating back to the post-World-War-Two era or perhaps even earlier. Very picturesque. Note that the road through both of these communities is narrow and crowded to the extreme with limited or no shoulders or sidewalks. Vehicles making deliveries have to stop pretty much right on the road since there's nowhere else for them to go. Drive slowly and with much caution!
Redington Shores:
Suddenly Gulf Boulevard blossoms to four lanes wide, and stays that way. While some high rises appear in this area, most of the tourist accommodations (far more condos than hotels) are in the area of six or seven stories high. These buildings line the ocean side of Gulf Boulevard almost without a break anywhere.
North Redington Beach:
This area is a little bit less built up, but with similar sized buildings, as well as a number of older and smaller ones. This area is the home of my favourite Florida hotel, the Doubletree Resort North Redington Beach. It's currently closed for renovations, but due to reopen in a month or so. The major change visible from outside is the new pale grey paint. The building used to be painted all in a pleasant shade somewhere between orange and pink, which can still be seen on the balcony dividing walls. The biggest advantages of a small hotel like this one versus the high-rise giants of Clearwater Beach: [1] the staff get to know you and vice versa. [2] In the beachfront rooms you can hear the sound of the ocean rolling up onto the beach with no trouble, especially at night. There is no more soothing sound to help you get a relaxed, refreshing sleep. I can't wait to stay here again!
Redington Beach:
This one is more or less a continuation of North Redington Beach in appearance although perhaps with less high rises.
>< Madeira Beach:
The condos are getting bigger now, and the shopping is getting a bit more diverse. This view is taken from the crest of the Tom Stuart Causeway looking west. It shows how the areas east of Gulf Boulevard are often built up into a series of "fingers" of land with channels of water in between them, so that homes can have a garage in front and a dock in the back for every house.
As in almost any one of these communities, if you're near the water and look around, you're sure to find a patient fishing bird waiting for a chance to scoop in any snack that comes swimming by.
The hotel I'm staying in, the fairly new Courtyard by Marriott, is officially listed as being in Madeira Beach, although it's physically located just across the Tom Stuart Causeway in Bay Pines on the mainland.
The big feature in Madeira Beach is the tourism-focused "village" and fishing harbour on the north shore of John's Pass, the channel separating Madeira Beach from Treasure Island.
Waltz Fish Shak is about as authentically old Florida as an eatery could possibly get.
The boardwalk at John's Pass is a great place to walk, and to watch pelicans and the occasional heron or egret waiting for elevenses from the active fishing boats.
The "Pass" itself was carved out by a massive hurricane in September of 1848. It needs to be dredged every so often to keep the channel open. A multi-storey parking garage provides ample parking, but it still pays to arrive early before the village gets crammed with visitors.
>< Treasure Island:
This one really has a dual personality. The north end of Treasure Island holds many of those classic old Floridian houses from the 1940s and earlier. Drive down the island for a few minutes though, and the scene changes dramatically. Now the accommodations are soaring into the higher price ranges, and the road meanders gently along between many new buildings, lacking only the gigantic proportions found in Clearwater Beach. Traffic is now building up, too, with the higher population density.
>< St. Pete Beach (including Pass a Grille Beach):
The biggest municipality on the islands, this is where you are most likely to have encounters with the wild and crazy drivers or the drivers whose vehicles move in pairs at slow idle, thus blocking up the entire road. This is one community with distinctive residential neighbourhoods which appear well separated from tourism facilities. You'll also find here the most diverse range of stores and restaurants of any of the island communities. One noteworthy sight in the northern part of this city is the St.. John Vianney Catholic Church, in a modern interpretation of traditional Spanish architecture.
Another modern nod to the Spanish tradition is the elegant "pink palace" of the Don CeSar Resort, the ancestor of all the other big resorts on these islands. I can find no reference to a reason for the curious spelling of the name with the capital "S" in "CeSar", since the name of the literary character it evokes is simply spelled "Don César de Bazan." This resort opened in 1928, was heavily used by the U.S. Armed Services during the second World War, then by the Veterans Administration after the war, narrowly escaped demolition when the V.A. no longer required it, and was renovated and reopened in November of 1973 -- since when it has undergone numerous further upgrades and renovations.
And finally, when Route 699 ends at the junction with the Pinellas Bayway, you drive on down into the narrow streets and distinctive atmosphere of St. Pete Beach's southern end, Pass a Grille Beach. There are numerous older buildings here, including what may well be the oldest homes on any of the islands. In fact, history is the keynote of the old centre of town, and especially of 8th Avenue.
And then there's the beach itself, one of the few that has ample visitor parking available nearby -- well, at least it's ample in the winter! This beach shows the definite impact of the hurricanes in recent years, and the critical need for replanting dunes with vegetation to anchor them.
So there you have it: pick a town, find your place, and settle in for a relaxing winter holiday, in the Gulf Coast's spring-like winter weather. Here's a map to help you get oriented.
