(I'm pasting a report I posted last summer about my beach experience in the Tampa area. I mean no disrespect to anyone who likes or lives in the area -- it's just my experience -- a bad one!)
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Like alot of DIS board members, we wanted to include a stay at the beach along w/ our trip to Disney. Because we had an early flight out of Tampa, we decided to stay in the St. Pete Beach area.
I had heard that Clearwater, even with its pretty beach, was commercialized, overbuilt, and overrun with juvenile delinquents. I wanted to avoid that, so I targeted the Indian Rocks/Indian Shores area. A month before we left, I rented was described as a "Completely renovated, peaceful beachfront cottage with large sundeck and wonderful view" over the internet. Paid an up-front deposit, too.
We left Orlando in an upbeat mood, which slowly evaporated as we drove through a succession of seedy little towns. After Disney's pristine resort ambience, the weedy vacant lots, rusted cars, and XXX adult emporiums were a real shock.
We arrived at Indian Rocks and were appalled at the traffic and congestion. Gulf Blvd. in this area is a narrow, two-lane road simply teeming with condos, ramshackle houses, and convenience stores. To make things worse, our "cottage" was the upstairs of a decrepit old house that smelled. "Newly renovated" meant they slapped some hot pink paint on the walls and put in new cabinets. Beachfront? Well, it *was* on the same side of the road as the beach, and as for the view -- we had one: if we stood on tip-toe and looked over the roofs of the two houses in front of ours!
Now, I realize that our Disney-enhanced standards were not applicable to this area. And if the beach had been acceptable, we probably would have stuck it out and made do. But the beach was simply awful. No sugar sand here; more like sugar with alot of woodashes ands gravel mixed in! Worse was the clientle inhabiting the beach at the time we inspected it: 3 in the afternoon, and the place was strewn with beer bottles and cigarrette butts. No way were we staying here!!
I called the rental agent, upset and fuming over the way they had misrepresented the accomodations. She offered me other units, but since they were all in this area we declined. Lost our deposit, but learned a priceless lesson: never, ever rent a place sight unseen!
It was late afternoon and blazing hot. We were weary, hungry, and beyond discouraged. My first instinct was to call the Sheraton Sand Key resort, which was sold out, of course. We decided to head south and see what we could find.
We thought our requirements were minimal: clean, beachfront, and with a kitchen, since were sick of eating in restaurants 3 times a day. There were a lot of condos, but my prior experience was that they required a minimum stay of 4 or more nights, longer than we were staying. I got in and out of the car alot, inspecting beaches and getting a general feel. Maderia Beach seemed slightly nicer, less crowded, but the only hotel that looked acceptable had a "no vacancy" sign. The beach at Treasure Island was huge -- but every accomodation in this area just seemed - worn?? (I wish I had remembered to bring my guidebooks!)
We stopped off at the Alden, which I had heard was a nice comfortable place. It was, but the beach there had more of that mucky sand. What a letdown!!
My kids were near mutiny at this point. They were sick of driving around in the heat. I had a splitting headache and an irrational desire to just go back to Orlando!
We drove aimlessly south, bickering over whether we should indeed go to Clearwater after all. Quite by accident, we ended up in the Pass-a-grille area. What a difference! This was a very nice and quiet residential section of St. Pete. Some condos (all less than 5 stories high) but mostly just very nice, historic homes. Our beach inspection yielded a pleasant surprise: lots of shells, and clean, clean sand. Uncrowded and almost secluded. My kinda place.
Not many accomodations, though. Our options were Islands End cottages -- which has recieved rave reviews and so of course was sold out, or a narrow selection of converted beach houses operating as "inns." We rented a two-room studio at what seemed our best option, and ended up enjoying our two day stay, for the most part.
I'm sharing this experience out of a desire to inform my fellow DISrs who may be considering a stay on the beach. I asked for recommendations and got a little frustrated at the repeated recommendations for the Sheraton Sand Key, Don Ceasar, and Tradewinds. Now I understand: for those of us just coming off a nice, luxurious, service-filled stay at a Disney-resort, they are probably the best choices. I wish I had listened!!
Also: the beaches in this area -- with the exception Pass-a-grille -- are so-so at best. If I had it to do over, I would have built in a few extra days and gone further north or south. Live and learn!!
Clearwater!
