Clearwater Beach, just an hour south of Hernando County, is a good option if you have a hankering for sand, sun and clear calm Gulf waters.
It is a great beach option for families as there is a playground area, a pier, public restrooms and showers to rinse off.
A promenade along Mandalay Avenue offers shops and restaurants for beachgoers and visitors.
The drive to Clearwater Beach is about the same length as going to St. Pete Beach, since you have to travel through the city of Clearwater which has a lot of stop and go traffic. But there is a Mellow Mushroom in Clearwater, which is an excellent pizza franchise. That is exciting for us since we love the Boone, NC Mellow Mushroom.
On the way out to Clearwater Beach, there is a separate bridge devoted to foot and bike traffic.
There is one nerve-wracking part of Clearwater Beach: the traffic circle located in front of Pier 60 Park. The traffic circle siphons traffic coming and going along Mandalay, Poinsettia and Causeway Blvd.
Fortunately, parking did not add to the traffic circle aggravation the day we visited, as we were able to easily find metered parking along Mandalay Avenue. However, do be aware that there is a 2 hour time limit on the metered parking in this area. There is a designated beach parking lot just south of Pier 60 Park with 139 spaces. Parking here is $3.00/hour.
The Gulf was notably clear and schools of small fish zipped by us as we swam. There were so many of these fish that several times the fish collided with our legs or jumped out of the water and hit us on the head. One ended up in my daughter’s bathing suit.
The water also had a degree of coolness in comparison to other shallower Gulf beaches which can reach sauna-like temps in the summer time.
You can also rent jet skis on the beach. There are designated areas for swimming only, so the jet skis did not seem to pose much of a problem to swimmers when we were there.
One interesting sight was the pirate ship, called the The Pirate’s Ransom, which cruises along the coast a way out from the swimming area. The Pirate’s Ransom departs out of the Clearwater Beach Marina and offers daytime and evening entertainment cruises.
We look forward to exploring other nearby beaches.
