St. Pete Beach

It was such a beautiful day in Tampa and I really needed to get out in the sun and enjoy some sand between my toes. Being new to Tampa, I decided to go to one of the three beaches that I actually know how to get to so that I didn't waste any precious beach time trying to figure out where to go. I picked St. Pete because it is usually busy enough so that my kids have other kids to play with and I can people watch. The other active beach that I know how to get to is Clearwater, and Clearwater is just a pain to get to when coming from Tampa.

St. Pete is a beautiful beach, even in March. There is not a lot of sea weed on the beach and the sand is the famous white sand of the "sun coast." There are a lot of shells on the beach, so whenever I go to St. Pete I make sure to step with caution so I don't end up with cuts like my pore hubby did today. My daughter, however, enjoys the shells because it allows for some great shell collecting. The shells usually look great in bowls, arts and crafts projects, and even the fish bowl.

St. Pete beach was pretty active today. I think it is spring break for a lot of the northerners who did not seem to mind that the water is actually freezing! I was amazed that they could completely submerge in that frigid water...brrrrrrr. The spring breakers also meant that there were plenty of kids for my children to build sand castles with and play catch with. I envy my 7 year olds ability to make friends quickly with every kid he meets. He had a great time getting to know a 7 year old Canadian. My 5 year old had a blast digging in the sand with his shovels and plastic trucks.

I enjoyed a day of playing catch, chilling on a blanket, shell hunting, and people watching. I missed the t-shirt shops of Clearwater and some other Florida beaches. I love to walk through the bigger t-shirt shops and explore the fun beachy stuff. However, the t-shirt shops at St. Pete beach are few and far from the beach. They are not a convenient to the beach and neither are concession stands. It was really disappointing today because I really wanted a volleyball and a drink.

Still, I while I will continue to explore the beaches of Tampa this year, I will definitely be returning to St. Pete beach.