The 'Suns' Road Trip 2022 - 2 : Little Toot, Caladesi & Clearwater

[anji]

Florida 2022 – The ‘Suns’ Road Trip – 2 : Little Toot, Caladesi & Clearwater

I was really looking forward to today as we’d never been on Little Toot and Caladesi is such a beautiful trip.

We slept well and got up about 8am. Very good considering the time difference and this tended to continue throughout our stay. We got ready to go and took hoodie/coat in case it was a bit chilly out on the water – we didn’t need them though. Our trip was booked for 11am.

Breakfast was at Crabby’s on the beach. Will had the works with eggs over easy (which he loves saying!) and I just had some wheat toast with jam. I love the little Smuckers pots! I’m not a great breakfast eater.
From here we had a wander down the beach walk – an improvement I think, unlike all the big hotels. We went onto the pier and watched the people fishing. We continued strolling until it was time to check in at Little Toot.

Well this trip was just awesome! The boat is small but has a huge wake which the dolphins love. The crew were very knowledgeable and gave lots of information about the surrounding buildings and the wildlife. Other boats were out and they keep in contact to help each other with dolphin sightings.

The dolphins were in the inner bay today, so we headed back there. The sun was reflecting off my phone so my still pictures were truly terrible as I couldn’t see what I was doing, but I did take a couple of good videos. The dolphins were fabulous and chased the boat, leaping and spinning. Yes, I shed another tear of happiness! We ended up 15 minutes over our time as everything was going so well out at sea.
I wish I could post the videos.

We walked back to the hotel via the quieter back road and got the car. I took a couple of photos of the outside of the building.

Before long we were parked up on Honeymoon Island in the Caladesi Ferry car park. We had about 15 minutes before the next boat. Now this must be one of the best jobs in the world – ferrying people to and from a beautiful island with wildlife everywhere.

Caladesi has changed a lot since we first started going there, when there was just a café. Last time there was the addition of paid parasols on the beach in rows (yuk) and now an observation tower which is due to open in a couple of months, which looked interesting but not very tall. It was also very busy – we’ve normally done the 10am first boat so lunchtime was a big difference. We had an icecream at the little café – a tradition!

There was a lot of seaweed washed up and in the shallows, so not very inviting. We walked along the beach and sat watching the seabirds, including my favourite sanderlings and plovers. Their little legs move so fast!

A huge horseshoe crab carapace had washed up too

There was a large gopher tortoise in some bushes and, looking closer, you could see a second one a few feet in front of him, head-first into a large hole it had made.
We were lucky to get the boat back later as the dock was rammed and the boat was full until they suddenly called for a party of 2!

We drove back via Dunedin – a lovely little town – and had an ice-cream at Strachan’s (yes, I know it’s the 2nd one!). They do the most enormous scoops!

We also tried to go to the Penny Lane Beatles museum (?!) but it closed at 4pm.

Dunedin looks a good place to be in the evening as there are lots of bars and it has a good vibe to it. We decided to look at staying there instead of Clearwater next time.

In the evening we watched a glorious sunset from the beach walk, rather than the pier, and then walked to the Clear Sky Café for dinner. It was very busy but we only waited a few minutes for a table. We wanted their amazing fries – kind of crescent shaped and fluffy. They’d stopped doing them! Oh well. I opted for sliders and Will had a big burger with cheese and bacon – plus fries that were lovely and crispy still. We both had Bud Lights again too. We’re on the search for Bud Light Limes but they were hard to find.

We called in at Pier House 60 hotel on the way home and went up to the rooftop bar for a couple cocktails. There was an enormous screen and music videos playing with some good tracks. The night was really clear and there was a huge full moon.

It was only 10pm but we were very tired as our body clocks were still adjusting, so we walked back to the hotel and soon went to bed! Unheard of for me as 1am is my usual!

Tomorrow – Kissimmee, via train to Winter Park

Index - https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho...2#post15302382

[guinness_79]

HOw did you find the hotel at st Pete’s - we are there in a few weeks!

[anji]

Originally Posted by guinness_79

HOw did you find the hotel at st Pete’s - we are there in a few weeks!

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We didn't go to St Pete's. Just Clearwater Beach and then on to Kissimmee.

[enjibenji]

We are booked for the same hotel in Clearwater for a week. The reviews seemed really good and it was a good price, so glad to hear from somebody thats been. 😊

[Melbatb]

The sunset photos are amazing!

We loved seeing the dolphins- such a treat! And the boat trip to the island looked lovely!

I never made 10pm on my recent trip to Arizona so you did well on the first evening!

[anji]

Originally Posted by enjibenji

We are booked for the same hotel in Clearwater for a week. The reviews seemed really good and it was a good price, so glad to hear from somebody thats been. 😊

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It was fine 🙂 We weren't troubled by traffic noise even though it's on the junction. We had a harbour view room so were at the back. Front desk guy was really helpful with recommendations. I'd stay there again and, yes, the price was really good!

[mick]

A lovely day and some great photos

Joan

[MOUSEMARSH]

Thanks for this, we will take a look at Dunedin for our next trip I think as it looks and sounds just like the places we like to stay. Cant beat a few Bud Lights sitting in the warm air watching the World go by...

[anji]

Originally Posted by MOUSEMARSH

Thanks for this, we will take a look at Dunedin for our next trip I think as it looks and sounds just like the places we like to stay. Cant beat a few Bud Lights sitting in the warm air watching the World go by...

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It has a lovely marina and parks too, which we've been to before. We've never been before at night but it looks like there's a few bars and some good restaurants to go to

[margyloveswdw]

Lovely day!