Gulf To Bay St. Pete Clearwater FL

The Gulf Coast offers plenty of opportunities to soak up the area's beautiful wildlife and nature, try your hand at sport fishing, or take ahike through the area's many preserves.

More than just a scenic boardwalk, the Weedon Island Preserve in St. Petersburg has a fascinating historical significance with ancient Indian artifacts that are on display at its history center. The park includes a 4-mile paddling trail that winds through mangroves, and Sweetwater Kayaks offers daily rentals. There's also a three-mile hiking trail along with a fishing pier, waterfront picnic sites and look-out tower.

Check out the wilds of Fort De Soto Park, St. Pete/Clearwater's largest park, where you can rent kayaks and stand-up paddleboards at Topwater Kayak Outpost. And Liberty Outdoors offers tours, rentals, and guided kayakfishing charters from its outpostjust outside the park. There are two fishing piers, each with food and a bait concession. Besides the park's award-winning beaches, it has a historic fort that's free to explore and a 7-mile multipurpose trail for biking, jogging, walking and skating. There is also a ferry service operated by Hubbard's Marina in the park shuttling passengers to Egmont Key and Shell Key, some of the best places in the area for snorkeling and shell collecting.

On the southern end of St. Pete Beach, the historic Merry Pier in Pass-A-Grille provides a fishing and boating destination that meets a variety of needs. Inside the friendly store and fish market, you can sign up for boat excursions, buy live or frozen bait and find rod and tackle supplies. You can even rent a bicycle to tool around Pass-A-Grille f o r t he day.

You can charter a boat on St. Pete Beach, allowing you to enjoy a trip to snorkel off Egmont Key, watch dolphinsona sunset cruise or gos port fishing. Dolphin Landings Charter Boat Center and Island Boat Adventures depart from St. Pete Beach locations and know the best spots to find dolphins or catch some fish. Island Action Sports, on the north end of St. Pete Beach, offers a wide variety of rentals, from kayaks and skimboards to surfboards and bikes. Lessons are available as well. You can rent stand-up paddleboards, water scooters and parasail gear from vendors on St. Pete Beach, particularly at the Paradise Grille concession stand at Pass-A-Grille, where they offer lessons on paddleboarding. Further north on St. Pete Beach, Suncoast Water Sports rents parasailing gear and WaveRunners on the beach behind the Sirata Beach Resort, the Alden Suites and also on Blind Pass Road.

For sportfishing, Hubbard's Marina offers multiple trips to catch your dinner. Located in John's Pass on Madeira Beach, they offer fishing trips, private charters, dolphin cruises, snorkeling expeditions and kayak and paddleboard rentals. John's Pass Charters also offers private offshore fishing charters, or if you are just looking for a nice day out on the water sightseeing, they offer near shore or Intracoastal Waterway trips. Check among the many vendors at John's Pass to find several jet ski and other water scooter rental opportunities, such as Woody's Watersports, to zip around the shoreline.

Rated one of the Top 10 bass lakes in the state of Florida, Lake Tarpon is renowned as a 2,500-acre freshwater lake on the shores of Tarpon Springs. It stretches a little over 9 miles between its northern and southernmost points with a bit more variety than other lakes of similar size. The lake is sandwiched between John Chesnut Sr. Park in Palm Harbor to the southeast and A.L. Anderson Park to the northwest. Chesnut Park has boating, fishing and water skiing and plenty of shady spots under the trees to relax in its 255 acres. Anderson offers boating, scenic views, nature trails and easy access to Lake Tarpon.

With a canoe and kayak launch, boardwalk and 35-foot wooden observation tower, the scenic Boca Ciega Millennium Park in Seminole is noted for its excellent birding. It earned a stop on the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission's "Great Florida Birding Trail." More than 175 species of birds have been identified there, including such rare species as the olive-sided flycatcher and Connecticut warbler.

For divers, there are 42 reef sites along the Gulf Coast of St. Pete/Clearwater from Tarpon Springs to St. Pete Beach, located from 200 yards to 38 miles offshore. In 2019, a 100-foot wide ring of concrete statues called the Circle of Heroes was placed nine miles off the coast of Clearwater, adjacent to the popular Veterans Reef dive location. The life-sized statues of soldiers from all branches of the military sit in 47 feet of water. The Tampa Bay area has several dive shops, including Mac's Sports in Clearwater and Sunshine Scuba in Largo to rent or buy equipment. And Queen Fleet, operating out of Clearwater Marina, offers the largest fleet of deep-sea fishing and charter boat excursions.

Drive over the Dunedin Causeway just north of Clearwater and head west to Honeymoon Island, a development-free beach scene with multiple hiking trails and mangroves for paddling. Sail Honeymoon has kayaks, sailboats and standup paddle boards available for rent right off the Causeway before you get to the park. There's also a ferry from there to Caladesi Island State Park, which is famed for its unspoiled beach. Quiet paths lead along the dunes, home to shore birds, sea turtles and gopher tortoises that burrow behind the dunes. It's a great place for fishing, picnicking, shelling, nature studies and marked kayak trails among the mangrove trees in the park.

The Fred Marquis Pinellas Trail is a biking and walking trail that extends for 54 miles across the length of St. Pete/Clearwater, from St. Pete to Tarpon Springs, with scenic spots along the way. Cyclists looking to cover a distance sometimes bike the whole trail in one direction, stay overnight in Tarpon Springs, and pedal back the next day. The trail was created in 1990 along a portion of an abandoned railroad corridor and provides a unique greenspace.

Dunedin, where the downtown grew up around the old railroad tracks, has embraced the trail with local merchants catering to the steady stream of visitors it brings. You can rent bikes at Kafe Racer, a bike and coffee shop on Douglas Avenue or Wheel Fun Rentals at the Best Western Plus Yacht Harbor Inn at Marina Plaza, where you can even rent a four passenger surrey bike. In St. Petersburg, the Coast Bike Share program of grab-and-go rental bikes has many hubs to grab a bike and recently added a fleet of electric bikes to its lineup to let riders explore a wider range.

The 245 acres of pristine Florida wilderness at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve in St. Pete is one of the region's most remarkable natural habitats situated in the middle of a bustling city. Miles of trails make it a haven for the most seasoned birdwatchers. You'll find lots of other Florida natives along the way, from alligators to crabs and gopher tortoises. There's also an environmental center that displays native Florida; you can see some injured birds of prey being taken care of there.

At more than 100 years old, Sunken Gardens is St. Petersburg's oldest living museum. The former roadside attraction was saved from development by a citizen vote in 1999 to preserve this historic botanical garden. It is home to some of the oldest tropical plants in the region and a flock of flamingos the community has adopted. As you stroll through meandering paths, you'll find demonstration gardens to inspire your own yard, including an orchid arbor, Japanese garden, wishing well and wedding lawn.

For a dash of adrenaline with a great view, Empower Adventures Tampa Bay in Oldsmar offers five ziplines of varying length to sail over the treetops for a breathtaking view of the surrounding water and wilderness. The guided tours begin from a 60-foot start tower and feature a 200-foot suspension bridge, providing adventure that's great for all ages.

A historical site that overlooks Old Tampa Bay, Philippe Park is also one of the best places for picnicking in a lush moss-draped park. There are great playgrounds, nature trails and bike lanes in this Safety Harbor park. But its history is also worthy of note. Named for Odet Philippe, who claimed to be a surgeon for Napoleon, Philippe settled here in the 1830s and introduced the New World's first successful grapefruit trees. The site was also a significant Native American settlement and is listed as a National Historic Landmark, where a sizable ancient ceremonial mound exists today.

The largest preserve in St. Pete/Clearwater, Brooker Creek Nature Preserve in Tarpon Springs protects a mosaic of vanishing habitats along more than 4 miles of educational trails. The preserve has a series of boardwalks, hiking trails and a scenic 6-mile horseback trail to see the many animals, birds, plants and wildflowers that call it home.

At Lake Seminole Park, a paved trail offers the option of a one- or two-mile loop, with benches situated at scenic spots along the way. Winding through a pine flat woods area, the trail is popular for jogging, hiking, biking and rollerblading. The vast lake is popular for boating, water skiing and fresh water fishing. A public boat ramp and piers provide lots of opportunities for fishing during park hours.

Nestled off busy Ulmerton Road in Largo is Florida Botanical Gardens, a serene 120-acre spot high lighting the flora and fauna of Florida. At Christmastime it gets even more magical with Holiday Lights in the Gardens, a stunning light display that makes use of the natural landscape. Master gardeners inform and inspire with more than a dozen demonstration gardens cultivated across 30 acres. See fine examples of butterfly gardens, a beach garden, topiaries and succulents among many others, with extensive educational information on each plant. The Botanical Bounty Gift Shop is a fun stop for gardening gifts, from decorative dishware and jewelry to gardening and art books.

The Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, a bird rescue center, on the north end of Redington Shores, is an avian hospital that occupies 3 acres of beachfront property and invites visitors to stroll its 1.5-mile trail to see the more than 100 birds treated here. Most of them will be released back into the wild once they have recovered, but some are permanent residents. The grounds offer plenty of chances to see and interact with shorebirds like pelicans, cormorants, cranes, herons and more.

Gulf To Bay St. Pete Clearwater FL - Gulf to Bay St. Pete Clearwater FL

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