Mopkins

Hello. I am from England and thinking of a trip
to St Pete Beach or Clearwater. We like very long walks but can you do this easily in either of these places?

vjpblovesitaly

This is not a trip report.

NewbE

You can walk along the beach for, oh, 20 miles or so, from the southern tip of Passe-a-Grille Beach all the way to Sand Key; at the northern end, you can keep going to Clearwater Beach, but you'll have to get off the beach and use a bridge, I think.
Here is a map:
https://maps.google.com/maps?client=...ed=0CDEQ8gEwAA

OO

When we lived in Tampa, Clearwter Beach was 'our beach'. We ran for fitness and discovered that we could go all the way from the northern section of CWB, up to the very northern tip of Caladesi Island, the cut having been filled in by a storm sometime in the past, so it is an island in name only. NewbE's map still shows it as one solid piece of land, although another storm could undo that spit of land, and may have since that picture was taken. From Palm Paviliion up and back was a 6 mile roundtrip run. It's beautiful, and like any walk or run, best done at low tide so you can walk on firmer sand.

Now we live at the southern portion and walk from Pass-a-grille north. If we want the same semi-seclusion we enjoyed on our Caladesi walk, we walk Ft Desoto, totally undeveloped, with the exception of the old fort, and showers and bathrooms in a couple areas. Both Caladesi and Ft Desoto are gorgeous walking beaches, and both have been voted "best beach in the US" by 'Dr Beach' at different times in the past.

Mopkins

Thanks for the reply newbE, this is really helpful. Sounds like our kind of holiday. We are thinking of going to St Pete beach over Clearwater now as think it offers more.

Mopkins

Thanks OO. Very useful. Looking at the map I presume that you cant walk from Pass-a-grille South down to Ft Desoto because of the road? Is it a car journey to Ft Desoto?

I also presume from what everyone has said so far that its uninterrupted beach walking from Pass-a-grille Northwards?

OO

Yes, you do need a car to get to Ft Desoto. There are now two tolls to be paid. One is 35¢, the other $5, but after that, no expenses....ie, nothing for parking. The $5 is new as of last year...prior to that it was just 35¢, parking included, which is quite a deal in this area! There are boats that leave from Pass-a-Grille and another from the Gulfport marina that will take you to Shell Key, just across a channel from Ft Desoto.

North from Pass-A-Grille you can walk as far as Treasure Island, then there is a break, but its a long enough walk to satisfy the hardiest walkers!! Following NewbE's map north, you can see the break clearly, but there is a fortuitously located sort of pub there at the pass called Woody's Waterside for refreshments before heading back. Join the throngs of locals and tourists at picnic tables overlooking the pass before the walk back. Woody's shows up on NewbE's map too if you enlarge it enough.

Mopkins

Thanks for all of the help OO, much appreciated.

Ackislander

I wrote a long answer to this earlier which I foolishly lost.

I have done a similar walk on beaches further south in Florida.

The big issue for you if you decide to do it all in one day (+/- 6h30m plus stops) is how you get back to your starting point. Public transportation is likely to be non-existent, so you are likely to find that renting and prepositioning a second car for one day is cheaper than a taxi crossing multiple town jurisdictions.

The good news is that the walking zone, on packed tidal sands, should be excellent, and you will see dolphins and pelicans quite close in. Migratory birds are absolutely brilliant all through the winter.

You need to be very careful about doing this walk in summer unless you are from Oz. All my UK friends think they want to roast in the sun after a winter of the wrong kind of snow, but walking between mid-May and early October will mean >90F from quite early in the morning until the daily thunderstorms arrive between 1600 and 1830. When these contain vigorous lightning, the beach is no place to be. November through the end of April is much more temperate.

Let us know how the trip goes, because I could be persuaded to do this if you solve all the problems in advance!