Pam did one last conference session this morning, explored the vendors / exhibitors a little more, and was back at the Marriott by 10:30AM. We checked out, picked up the rental car from Hertz's location in the hotel, and by 11:20AM started out on our Gulf Coast exploration.
Taking the I-275 across Old Tampa Bay and south towards the Sky Bridge, our first stop was Gulfport. Then it was a coastal route north, passing St. Pete's Beach, Indian Shores, Clearwater Beach (and all the smaller beach towns along the way), and making several beach stops enroute. After Clearwater Beach, we headed inland a bit, driving up the east side of Saint Joseph Sound through Clearwater proper and the Scottish-influenced town of Dunedin, until we hit Honeymoon Island State Park - our last stop of the tour.
The day was drawing to a close by the time we left Honeymoon Island, so we headed from there directly to the hotel in Clearwater. Applebee's -- our favourite American chain -- was our treat for supper, and it didn't disappoint!. It was cloudy most of the day and fairly chilly, but the sun broke through late afternoon. All in all, it was a very enjoyable way to end our time in Tampa.
There are three bridge/causeway combos that cross Tampa Bay. On our travels, we took the middle one -- Interstate 275. It has four lanes on each of two structures, going both directions. But another four lane parallel structure is under construction (the one to the right in the photo above). It is an incredible and extremely busy highway across the bay!
Gulfport is a small artsy community on the north shore of the Boca Ciega Bay Aquatic Preserve, to the west of St. Pete Beach. It's beach is small, but it served as a nice starting point for our beach exploration today.
Gulfport was the first place where we saw signs of the carnage of Hurricane Helene, the category 4 hurricane that hit the Gulf Coast on September 26.
After Gulfport, we headed to St. Pete Beach, where the signs of hurricane damage started to become more evident. The Don Cesar is the elegant focal point of St. Pete and, like most hotels in the area, is undergoing renovation work to repair hurricane damage.
Pam was quite excited to see the Coral Reef in St. Pete Beach, the hotel where her family stayed in the early 1980s on their first trip to Florida. It, too, was undergoing hurricane repair work.
This pop-up 'National Disaster Team' trailer was in place outside a major beachfront hotel in St. Pete Beach.
We stopped for a chilly beach walk in Upham Beach Park in St. Pete Beach and spoke with a woman from Tampa who described for us the damage caused by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. She said that Helene caused the most storm surge damage, while Milton caused the most wind damage. We remarked that we thought things looked great and that hurricane damage was difficult to pinpoint. She told us that, pretty well every building for miles around had at least three feet of water damage. Take the three buildings in the photo above, which face Upham Beach Park: one can easily assume that the units in the ground floor of all of these buildings were pretty much destroyed.
Despite the chilly 57F temperature, a wedding was being set up on Upham Beach as we visited.
The fine sands of Upham Beach in St. Pete's Beach.
The St. Pete flag, flying underneath the half-masted Stars 'n Stripes.
Further up the coast, the sun finally began to peek through. This is Clearwater Beach, one of the widest beaches on the Gulf Coast, and the one with perhaps the most luxurious hotels. The surf was pounding, due to the winds. Given the force and damage of the Fall 2024 hurricanes, though, we were amazed to see how normal things seemed after just a few months.
The powder-white sand of Clearwater Beach.
Clearwater Beach.
We ended our drive at Honeymoon Island State Park, which is the most northerly accessible area on the coast in the Tampa region.
The view from Honeymoon Island State Park, looking south.
The powdery sands of Honeymoon Island State Park.
A beach wedding in 14C at Honeymoon Island.
Many buildings and structures along the Gulf Coast are on stilts. Some apartment buildings, for example, use the first floor for parking, with the units starting on the second floor. Such a construction approach makes sense, given that everything is pretty much at sea level. Above is a building housing washrooms and change facilities at Honeymoon Island State Beach. Despite the fact that it was built on stilts, Hurricane Helene's storm surge was much, much higher. Storm surge waters likely went halfway to the roof of this building.
Pam at Honeymoon Beach State Park.
We drove close to 200KM today. The red line shows our approximate route. We began our beach explorations in Gulfport (south) and ended them in Honeymoon Island (north).
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