Let's do something different this time - Day 12 - Monday 13th June 2016 - Clearwater Beach

[Fuellady]

Let’s do something different this time – Day 12 – Monday 13th June 2016

Clearwater Beach

I’ve been dreading writing this day… it seems wrong to be writing about a nice day on holiday when it was this morning that we woke up to the terrible news about the shootings at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. It’s strange to be so close geographically to such a huge and awful newsworthy event. Of course, we weren’t directly affected so we carried on with our plan for the day and had a good day, but there was a weird, sad and somewhat shocked feeling hanging over the day as well.

This was one of our “something different” days today, we were off to the beach! We had breakfast in the villa after fighting to get Shannon up for the day, so I wasn’t in the best of moods with her. I had wanted to get an early start, not knowing how long it would take us to get to Clearwater Beach. I had printed some directions from AA Routeplanner before leaving home so I was hoping this would be enough to get us there without any drama!

We set off about 8.30am I think, heading South on the US27 until we joined the I4 West. We stopped for fuel just after Dinosaur World, a tiny little fuel station off the road, looked a bit run down. I was terrified sitting in the car waiting for Neil to fuel up and pay but I didn’t say anything to the girls so they wouldn’t freak out as well! The whole time on the radio today was just news, interviews, speculation, all about the nightclub incident. No music played at all, it was all very sombre.

I hadn’t realised that we would actually drive through Tampa, and our directions for this part weren’t very clear, but somehow we managed to keep to the right road and were soon crossing a bridge that I thought was the bridge to Clearwater Beach. Turns out not! We still had a bit to go, through Clearwater before reaching the bridge. I’m not a big fan of bridges, but I had been looking forward to going over this one for ages.

It had taken us just short of 2 hours, but we soon arrived at Clearwater Beach and we followed directions that I had got through putting a question on the Dibb. Despite that, we went a bit too far to start with and had to turn around and come back until we found the car park at the beach. We got parked up and paid (I think it was about $7). The beach was beautiful, lovely soft white sand and we grabbed our stuff and headed straight for the booth to hire sun beds and umbrellas for the day. We hired 4 sunbeds and 2 umbrellas, and if memory serves me correctly, we paid $40. We settled down to enjoy our relaxing day, reading books and magazines and people watching!

After a while Neil decided that we should go into the sea. I was convinced the water would be freezing and wasn’t keen but agreed to give it a go. The girls point blank refused so we left them with our bags.

Walking down towards the sea, there was a big puddle where the sand had dipped down and the water was lovely and warm in there. I still didn’t think that the actual sea would be warm though. Wow, was I wrong! I have never experienced sea water like it. It was like stepping in a bath! It was so nice and we bobbed about in the waves for ages. Eventually we headed back to our seats and told the girls all about it but they didn’t believe us!

We were getting a bit peckish now, so we decided to go for lunch. We just pulled some shorts and t-shirts on top of our swimming stuff and took our bags with us. We walked up to the Clearsky cafe where we sat outside under a shade. Sorry no pics of what we had, but I do remember that we all enjoyed it well enough. When we were done, we walked back by a different route, entering the beach further along and walking back to our chairs along the sand. Neil popped back to the car park to put more money in the meter, we hadn’t planned to stay so long but we were really enjoying our day. It was really hot now and Neil and I decided to go back into the water. We bobbed about again for a while then as soon as we got back to our seats the girls decided they would give the water a go after all. They were gone for ages, they so enjoyed it and wished they had gone in before. I could see them the whole time from my seat so I knew they were ok.

About 4.00pm, we thought we should start heading back. We all went into the bathrooms across the car park to change into clean dry clothes for the journey back. We hit a bit of a traffic jam going through Tampa but apart from that the return journey was uneventful.

Before returning to the villa, we popped into our local Publix and picked up some hot chicken pieces and salad bits for tea. The clouds were gathering now, and it wasn’t long before it was pouring down. We continued the relaxing theme to the day by chilling out in the villa until bed time. We had had a lovely day at the beach and will definitely go back again.

Thanks for reading.

[RachelM]

What a lovely day at the beach. I had never swam in the sea until I visited Clearwater in 2012.

[boltyboy]

We loved Clearwater too, like you couldn't believe how warm the water was!
Great trippy ☺

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by RachelM

What a lovely day at the beach. I had never swam in the sea until I visited Clearwater in 2012.

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It was a really lovely day... we'll definitely revisit, maybe with a hotel stay next time. I grew up by the sea, but swimming in the North Sea is a far cry from Clearwater

Thanks for reading Rachel, and all your lovely comments.

Originally Posted by boltyboy

We loved Clearwater too, like you couldn't believe how warm the water was!
Great trippy ☺

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I was so sceptical... I had no idea the sea could be so warm. Thanks for reading

[hellin family]

Lovely to read this. Just booked a couple of nights at Clearwater for our trip next year. Interesting to read bits about car parking, toilets, sun beds and cafes! All questions in my head now answered so thank you so much x

[HEMANCLOFTY]

What a great chilled out day - we love Clearwater Beach

If you are planning a return, the Sea Screamer is a fabulous way to spend an hour

[loobz]

great day at the beach, sounds very relaxing but I'm having trouble imagining the warm sea!

[Excitedx4]

Clearwater looks lovely, nice chilled out day.

[WileyCoyote]

Lynda, what a lovely day. I understand what you mean about mood. Jamie texted us when we were away in March about the terrible attack in Westminster. We were in a Nike store at the time and sat down to look at the news. Suddenly we didn't want to shop any more, it just felt wrong with such an awful thing happening. As you say, there is nothing you can do but this overwhelming sadness wraps around you.

Clearwater warm sea... Can't wait to try that, it was arctic when we went !

[Fuellady]

Originally Posted by hellin family

Lovely to read this. Just booked a couple of nights at Clearwater for our trip next year. Interesting to read bits about car parking, toilets, sun beds and cafes! All questions in my head now answered so thank you so much x

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You're welcome. I'm sure you will love Clearwater, so pretty and relaxing. Great idea going for 2 nights, it will give you more time to explore, we only went to the beach!

Originally Posted by HEMANCLOFTY

What a great chilled out day - we love Clearwater Beach

If you are planning a return, the Sea Screamer is a fabulous way to spend an hour

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Thanks for the Sea Screamer recommendation. When we go back I think it will be for an overnight stay and it would be nice to break up the beach time with a little boat trip.

Originally Posted by loobz

great day at the beach, sounds very relaxing but I'm having trouble imagining the warm sea!

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Such a relaxing day... it's really hard to get your head round the warm sea thing. Has to be experienced to believe I think.