St. Petersburg - Tampa Bay area beachgoers....
 

Tandoori_girl, Joan, HibiscusHouse, locals.... in June, July, August, etc., do you go to the beach a lot or is it just too darned hot then? My DH wants to go in July, stay in a place on the beach at Indian Shores for a week, to see JUST HOW HOT it feels/is at that time. (Is considering living in Florida......... :-) ) Do you go to the water much at that time, or do you keep yourself holed up in your A/C? Thanks, ladies........... you're always so helpful!

bonnie, I am not one of the local girls but...

My family did spend a week in July a couple of years ago at Reddington Beach and had a great time. Have done the same at TI and St. Pete Beach as well (not always mid summer). Sure it was hot but that was fine. We did the ocean thing in the AM and then hung around the pool or wandered about town doing tourist stuff. I believe that you make of it what you can. Locals get to enjoy the beach at premium times...us travelers do what we can.

Seems to me that visiting will give you a feel for what July is like (hot) but I am not convinced that is a great measure of if you would want to live in any one place.

placeu2, thanks for your input. The weather is just one of many factors in deciding where we'll live out our golden years, of course. My husband has always wanted to live near the ocean, and although I LOVE my native North Carolina, the Gulf Coast beaches are so much calmer, the sand whiter, the water clearer and more beautiful than our beaches here. We also have some family in Florida so it will be a possibility. My husband doesn't mind the heat at all, I do........... so it's important for me to experience just how uncomfortable it gets there in the summer. (We were there this past February, and loved it then! :-) ) Thanks for your comments!

ttt....... Florida pals, where are ye?

Maybe I can help? We did go to the water most every weekend. We sail and when we were out on the boat it felt OK. This past summer for some reason felt the worst of any of the 8 we had, and there were a few weekends we just thought it was too hot even to do that.

We are biiiig beach people. When we first moved there, prior to buying the boat, we did go to the beach most every weekend. It was OK...pretty hot but you could get in the water to cool off (some...the water got pretty hot too by mid summer.) Once we had the boat, we never went to the beach again, and even prior to that, our beach time was tapering off.

Actually I like the beach for walking any time of year. We would never go to swim or lay out between October and April, but would sometimes run or walk there. March and April traffic was so bad we learned to avoid it. There were a couple of times (during spring break) we drove all the way out to Clearwater Beach, only to find there was no parking and drove all the way back to Tampa, in long lines of stop and go traffic a good part of the way, also!! That was before discovering Ft Desoto...after that discovery, if we wanted beach time during March or April, that's the only beach we would go to.

Part of what bothered me about the heat, and it is pretty impressive heat...is the fact that we run and what a nuisance that was. If we hadn't done our run by 9 or so, forget it, there was no point in even trying. So...4 days a week I was struggling to keep my routine and wishing it weren't such an issue. The average person though, no, you just learn to deal with it.

We lived on the water, but Tampa Bay, not the Gulf. If there was any temperature difference between that and inland, it wasn't noticeable. If you could get a condo or the like on the beach, it'd be best, but $$$$$$$$ (and going up daily!).

Hope this was a little help bonniebroad. From October to May it's a pretty terrific place to live...heaven...but summer tests the team. You'll see the worst of it if you go in July for a few weeks. It you can handle it then, you will LOVE it the rest of the year!

Miz OO, thank you so much! ((f)) You're a wonderful source of information, as usual! That's exactly the kind of detail that is so helpful.... I know we are close in age but you way outclass me in the physical fitness department, so I find it interesting to hear how the heat affects you. I won't be running in the morning but certainly want to walk on the beach, etc. (Forty-two pounds are off but I still have about 20 to 40 more that I want to lose, so it's important to me that I live in a climate where I can get out and exercise.) Your comment on the traffic will be very interesting to my DH; that's something he worries about down there! Thank you MUCHOS, OO, and don't let those deer get the best of you and your gardening down there in Texas. I hope you will have a wonderful life there! :-)

Bonnie...Congrats on those 42 lbs. I am so impressed with your stick-to-itivenes! You are going to get there. You've gone on vacation, gone off it, but went right back on again once home. Good going--I <i>know</i> you will get to your goal and living in an area you can walk in year round will help you keep it right where you want it! You will do fine walking, especially if it's on the beach. There is so much to take your mind off what you are doing, you'll actually enjoy it. There will be something new and different every day, even if you walk the same route.

I wanted to clarify one thing. The very worst of the traffic that I ever found was that between Tampa and Clearwater Beach. This is before the bridge construction and the roundabout. Now it's even worse, but if you avoid that area, it isn't half bad. We never had a problem getting to our boat, which is in the water near St Pete Beach. All our beach/water time was spent going between either Tampa and Clearwater, (terrible) or Tampa and St Pete (not so bad.) I really can't tell you what the in between places, such as Indian Shores, would be like, but Joan certainly can.

Thanks for the good wishes here Bonnie. We bought some deer resistant plants at a nursery over the weekend and so far they made it unscathed through one night. LOL Little devils. I sure do miss the water though...if we had it here, I'd be a happy camper, because otherwise it's a great place to live! Oh...93 here Friday but it didn't feel as hot as FL 93! That was encouraging.

I'm a local gal and I probably only get to the beach once a month. My favorite time to go is before sunset for walks. My favorite hotel is Sheraton Sand Key - beautiful rooms on the beach and it's not too crowded. We were there 2 years ago in July and I stayed under the cabana during most of the time while my niece played. Then we would cool off in the water. I was born and raised in Florida, so the heat does not bother me. But it does bother most people. Traffic to Clearwater Beach is Horrible!! Ft. Desoto and Passe A Grille in St. Pete are really nice, but Clearwater is more beautiful and you have more restaurants. As a Floridian I'm supposed to discourage you from coming down to live here, but it is the greatest place on earth - but here are the bad things: humidity (bad hair days), mosquitoes, hurricanes, tourists :)

Thanks for your comments, Silivia. I don't like too much heat and humidity so I may end up sitting in an air-conditioned cottage, peering out at my DH on the beach for a week! :-d It can get pretty horrendous in Raleigh in July/August timeframe, high 90's and dripping humidity some summers, although I have to say our last two summers have been really nice. So we'll see how the two areas compare that way.

OO, thank you for your support and kind words! :-) I've been ten months on my healthy program now, two months now before I surprise my doctor at my yearly check-up. He may faint when he sees me! :-) (I'm sure he never thought I'd do this!)

Speaking of the deer, those guys give my sister a fit in the North Carolina mountains. She can hardly grow anything up there!!! I have squirrels that are eating my Camellias, and they also got one of my geraniums a couple of weeks ago. I guess there's just not enough &quot;wild&quot; left for these creatures anymore.

So it was 93 degrees there Friday..... goodness, OO, what will it be in August????? =-o

One thing most non-beach area people don't know is that the temperatures are cooler along the coast than inland -- sometimes by more than 5 degrees difference. And that's a heck of a difference when you are talking about 85 versus 90, or 90 versus 95. The other thing is that there is always a breeze along the beach, which provides even more cooling effect.

I'm sure you wouldn't find it too hot in July. The time of day to avoid is when the sun is just past noon on a clear day when there is no chance of clouds for shade. And yes, if you are accustomed to cooler weather, you will feel warm at first. But it certainly isn't so bad that you will need to stay cooped up in a hotel room.

For me, the best time of day is just around sunrise, when I get out and go walking on the beach every time I get a chance. I think you'd enjoy it too. Good luck and don't worry so much.

Hello all! Well here's my two cents. We are all about the beach - we live very very close, about three houses away. We love the summertime: less crowds, less traffic, water is incredibly warm. Some complain too warm - because at 82 degrees it doesn't really cool you off. Our routine is a daily walk (even if just 5 mins) to &quot;check the beach&quot; and on our day off (Sunday) we load up our wagon with chairs, cooler, and most important, UMBRELLA. I can't tell you the difference an umbrella makes to our beach enjoyment - turns an agonizing half hour max visit into a three hour party! As far as exercise walks, yes you must do them before 8:30 AM or after 7 PM - even then it's hot! Or the alternative is my husband's idea: a Swim N Walk: you walk a few minutes, swim a few minutes, wade, walk some more, repeat. This is great with a beer in hand, but then I guess that completely obliterates the exercise aspect :)

Also, even living just three houses from the beach, I really do not see a five degree difference. We turn our A/C on in May and it stays on til October. The breeze is only available if you are directly on the beach. But I wouldn't trade it for anything - we are beach bums at heart!

Traffic is lighter in the summer - in fact if I'm heading north sometimes I'll take the beach road on summer weekdays, 'cause it does empty out compared to the city.

One other thought: absolutely everything is a/c'd here - not like the north where A/C is only available sporadically...so avoiding the heat is easier than you may think.

One last thought: my brother (for example) absolutely hates being hot. He can't stand it here. My husband on the other hand is hairier and hotter than me all the time, but his love for the beach and water surpass his discomfort. I would rather be hot than cold, so it's much easier for me. If you HATE being hot, then Florida is just not the right place for you. Know what I mean?