St Petersburg and the Gulf Beaches

Our family visit St. Petersburg area often. The travel begins in the north with Tarpon Springs, continues southward with Clearwater and St. Petersburg covering an area known as the Suncoast. Then we move south to Bradenton and Sarasota, with their islands and the town of Venice. We finish our short trip at Bonito Beach.

When visiting Florida you absolutely must visit St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Tarpon Springs, the Salvador Dali Museum, and of course, the Clearwater beach!

Quick Tips:

Since 1880s, when an exiled Russian nobleman Peter Demens gave the city railroad and the name of his Russian hometown, St. Petersburg has been associated with healthful climes and restorative waters.

Best Way To Get Around:

By car only!

Fred Howard Park hides far from the mainstream in Tarpon Springs, but is the best beach in this parts that is accessible from the mainland. The beautifully canopied grounds are favorite for picnickers. A mile long causeway delivers you from the mainland`s part of the Fred Howard Park to a sandy beach on the island (free parking).

Greeks arrived in this lovely town about one hundred years ago to harvest Tarpon Springs’ fertile sponge crops, 30 feet below. Their influence remains strong in the town’s sponge market, Greek pastry shops, onion-domed Orthodox church, and annual Epiphany Day (Jan 6) dive for the cross. You will find Greek restaurants, an Athens street, a Poseidon gift

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the most striking symbol of Tarpon Spring’s Greek Heritage. The Byzantine Revival church, a replica of St. Sophia in Istanbul, was built in 1943 using marble delivered from Greece.

The Clearwater area is the place to head if you are serious about spending days on and in the water. Its beach facilities are top-notch and its marinas are beehives of sail-away activity. Clearwater Beach has some of the widest, most gorgeous beaches in the area. Pier 60 Park, at the intersection of Causeway and Gulf-view boulevards, is most active, with its fishing pier, sheltered playground, and sand volleyball. Yes, lifeguards patrol the wide, sugar-sand beach.

Across the south-end bridge to Sand Key lies Clearwater Beach’s famous recreational area, Sandy Key Park (picnic areas and playgrounds). A "key" is a small (generally under 10 acres), low-lying island. There are 882 keys in Florida. Anything smaller is classified a shoal, reef or sandbar. The word derives from the Spanish cayo, which hass been shortened to cay in the Caribbean, and is pronounced "key".

One of the most impressive treasures, the Salvador Dali Museum houses the world ‘s largest collection of original works by the renowned surrealist.

The museum opened in 1982, 40 years after Ohio businessman Reynolds Morse first met the young artist and began collecting his works. In addition to 95 original oil paintings, the museum has more than 100 watercolors and drawings, along with 1,300 graphics.

St. Pete Beach (St. Petersburg was officially shortened to St. Pete because it was considered more evocative of fun filled resort) occupies 7.5-mile island known as Long Key. Its greatest landmark is the fantasy-pink Don CeSar Resort, playground of 1920s rich and famous such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Al Capone.

Bradenton trace its identity to Hernand de Soto, whom historians claim made his first New World landfall on local shores in 1539. As a result, Bradenton has a propensity for preserving history. To honor Bradenton’s trademark historical event, De Soto National Memorial Park recalls the life and times of explorer. Manatee Village Historical Park recounts the story of the Florida frontier a century ago.

Two bridges link Bradenton to Anna Maria Island, whose sandy shoreline, backed by dunes, is largely undeveloped but it is washed by breakers big enough to attract surfers. The largest of the Bradenton-Sarasota islands, Anna Maria has three distinct communities. Northernmost Anna Maria has a casual air about it, along with picturesque public fishing pier built in 1910. Bayfront Park rounds the tip of the island Gulf to bay offering picnic facilities, recreational opportunities, and a magnificent view of St. Petersburg’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Holmes Beach, our favorite place on the island, is more upscale. It has beautiful, unspoiled beach. Manatee County Park has picnicking facilities, lifeguards, a snack bar and fishing pier.

Bradenton Beach, with its beach shops has some historic feel. Coquina Bach lies at the south end of the island and wraps around Gulf and bay. Here, beachers also enjoy picnic areas, boat ramps, good snorkeling and a lot of shady Australian pine trees.

A lovely, well heeled island, Longboat Key has little to offer in the way of sights but its public beaches are good.

Nicest and sportiest of the Gulf’s strip of beaches, South Lido Beach at Lido Key features a wide, sugar-sand white beach and picnic area.

Unlike other West Coast beaches, Siesta Key gets quartz sand. Siesta Key’s claim to the world’s whitest beach has naturally made the island beach-preoccupied. Siesta Key County Beach is a half-mile long and luxuriously wide and its porcelain-white sands are plush.

The north end of Casey Key provides a pleasant, winding drive around exclusive residential neighborhood. At its south end, bustling Nokomis Beach is resortier. North Jetty Park tips the island, where a small pass separeates it from Venice Beach. This is our favorite place in the island. Here you can get out of the traffic, swim, have a picnic, and catch lots of fish.

Venice has the same Mediterranean architecture, fun beaches, art galleries and seafood restaurants as Sarasota, but on smaller scale. Above all, Venice is recognized for its shark-teeth collecting. Snorkelers and beachcombers search for fossil specimens that wash up from an ancient shark graveyard offshore.

Bonita Springs calls itself “Gateway to the Gulf” because its exit off I-75 (no. 18) comes closer to the beach than the other exits. At Bonita Public Beach visitors will find sheltered picnic tables, lifeguards, and a food stand. North of the main beach, along Hickory Blvd., numerous access points offer limited facilities and free parking (3 – 4 cars at a lot).

“There is only one Fort Myers and 90 million people will find it out”, declared Thomas Edison (1847 – 1931) in the late 1880s. The inventor moved his winter quarters to town after northern chills threatened his health. He built the estate in 1886, and the house, laboratory, and botanical garden are much as he left them. The area’s balmy weather would extend his life another 46 years. Edison was also an enthusiastic horticulturist, and the gardens around the house and laboratory contain a great variety of exotic plants. The giant banyan tree, which was given by the tire magnate Firestone in 1925, boasts a circumference in excess of 400ft (120m).

Juan Ponce de Leon was the first European to set foot upon these shores, somewhere in Charlotte harbor in 1513. In 1539, while searching for gold, Hernando de Soto sailed into Tampa Bay. The Indian tribes living there called their village `Tanpa`, which means `sticks of fire`. Early explorers misspelled the name when they drew up maps, and the area became known as Tampa.

The first white men traveled to western Florida for adventure. And they found it aplenty: half-naked natives, tricky waterways, impenetrable swamp, and fire-brewed stews. In search for gold and youth, they chose to kill some natives and curse the rest. They brought their own hogs, cows, and citrus to eat, then eventually left, discouraged by the persistent onslaughts from the resident Amerindian tribes – the Timucua around today’s Tampa and Sarasota, the Calusa in the south. Legends fill the region’s early times with dastardly pirates who came to prey upon ships sailing between the Caribbean and established towns in northern Florida. More prevalent in the 17th through the 19th centuries were Spanish fishermen and farmers. They lived in stilt houses built on sand shoals. Actually, commercial fishing developed into a thriving industry.

In the 19th century Florida, after being passed back and forth between Spain and England, became a US territory. The Gulf Coast became a significant center for trade between the US and the Caribbean. This was due in part to Henry Plant, whose rail line from Virginia, laid in 1880s, helped to fuel both Tampa’s and region’s greatest period of prosperity.