Living in Georgia, the white sandy beaches of Florida are a tempting drive. My mom has been wanting to go to the beach especially since COVID made her feel like a prisoner in our house. For our family trip we stayed in Indian Shores, Florida, which is in between St. Petersburg and Clearwater. This put us in an ideal location to get to Clearwater Beach, one of the worlds best beaches (according to my dad).

 

The best part of beach vacations with my family is that we are all water sports people. We spent our first two days sailing out of the Clearwater Community Sailing Center. They have rentals for all different types of sail boats, paddle boards and kayaks. We were able to get a 2 day package to save money and use more than one type of boat. My brother and I being sailors took out a Vangaurd 15, and then we went out with our entire family on a Catamaran both days. Warning, unlike paddle boards and kayaks, you do need to have knowledge of sailing in order to rent the sailboats.

 

If you are outdoorsy but not interested in sailing by yourself, there are lots of nature parks available to walk through. The George C. McGough Nature Park has a bird and butterfly sanctuary along with walking paths and playgrounds for the kids.

 

Honeymoon Island State Park is another beautiful park on the coast off of Clearwater. You can only get to this park by boat, which makes it a beautiful private beach escape. Motor boats anchor on the sand bar next to the island. There are ferries available to go visit the island, and the island has kayak rentals available. Honeymoon Island State Park is known for kayak paths through large mangroves. My family rented two kayaks and a paddle board across the bay to get to Caladesi and Honeymoon Island State Park. The trip is not too rigorous, but you do have to cross the ICW (Inner Coastal Waterway) channel. We were able to stop on sandbars and walk around finding live conchs and beautiful shells. Once we landed on Caladesi Island, we ate our packed lunch (pub subs of course) and laid on a he beach for a little. Before making our way back, we saw some dolphins feeding right in front of us by the beach. I launched my kayak off the beach and the dolphin passed right in front of me. The water is so clear you can see their bodies underwater. It was such a cool experience. I posed a video on my Instagram. Click here to see it.

 

My last recommendation for boat rentals is Marine Island Boat Rentals at Indian Rocks Beach. We wanted a powerboat for half the day, and the prices are very cheap for a motor boat rental. I recommend treating yourself with your family and friends by renting a boat. Every motor boat comes with a gps and they can put in any destination you want. Then all you do is follow the line on the map! We went back to Caledesi Island and also stopped at One Tree Island. One Tree Island is small. The beach isn’t sandy but has tons of huge shells and rocks.

 

As far as eating goes, the beach can usually be pretty limited. Everywhere you look there’s a beach shack with the same food staples (grouper sandwich, oysters, fried conch fritters, crab cakes or fried shrimp). Don’t get me wrong- I looove seafood, but the selection is not very diverse.

 

For a nice sit down dinner where you can dress up, I would recommend going to Clearwater Pier 66. We ate at SHOR American Seafood Grill in the Hyatt Regency. The food here was extremely pricey for what it was. However I will say I had the salmon on top of orzo and roasted green beans. The meal was delicious, and so were the meals of my entire family.  I just wish it wasn’t so expensive.

 

Near our Airbnb we ate at The Original Crabby Bills, PJ’s Oyster Bar, and Jake’s Costal Cantina. Crabby Bills had really good grilled shrimp. At PJ’s I indulged in my seafood cravings and had oysters and crab legs. I always forget how annoying eating crab legs can be though. It’s usually a lot of work taking of the shell to find meat. I was the last to finish my meal at PJ’s simply because it took me so long to crack open the legs. That’s ok though, I would say it’s worth it.

 

Jake’s Coastal Cantina is a Mexican seafood joint where you order at kiosks and then find your own table and wait for the food. It was a little difficult to navigate the kiosks with my boomer parents, but the food was good. I, of course, had to try the Mexican Street Corn. For my meal, I had the taco salad with shrimp and out all my favorite toppings on it.

 

We wanted to try eating at Guppy’s, but most nights they had an hour or longer wait.

 

The first day we spent sailing, we ate at this tiny sandwich shop in the back of a convenience store. FIND NAME OF RESTAURANT. I had a Philly cheesesteak sandwich on a gluten free bun. Side note: I have recently been having tummy issues, so I am trying to reduce my gluten intake because I find it usually irritates me. Having a food restriction on vacation can be difficult when you’re constantly eating at restaurants. I will say this was the best gluten free bread I’ve ever had. After sailing for a few hours I devoured this sandwich. My brother had the veggie sandwich, which I would also highly recommend.

 

In Clearwater Beach, we had lunch at Frenchy’s. Frenchy’s is a popular seafood chain in this area. They have locations on the water so if you want to stop by on a boat day you can park at their docks. I had the grouper sandwich because they are supposed famous for their grouper sandwich’s. I would say it’s pretty average and would not recommend. It could also be that grouper is a pretty bland fish, but I found it kind of tasteless. I also had the she crab soup, which was so yummy.

 

Lastly, we spent a week here, so eating out everyday can get exhausting and can make feel either lethargic or poor. I would always recommend buying basic breakfast foods especially if you are staying at an Airbnb. For dinner one night we went to Publix and got ingredients for shrimp scampi and some appetizers. If you are on the coast you can get the seafood fresh from markets and then pick up your other ingredients at a store like Publix. I would recommend FISH MARKET.

 

Overall, my family had a great time. We were able to have a relaxing vacation while staying active and soaking up all the vitamin D possible. Indian Rocks Beach is on a skinny plot of land so you can walk or bike the whole area. There are sidewalks on either side of the road that could take you south to St. Petersburg or north to Clearwater. My brother, who is an avid biker, biked all the way to Clearwater. I followed behind but did not make it that far lol. Also, I would highly recommend this area of Florida because it’s not too far south that the drive is awful and it’s not overrun with *cough* trashy *cough* tourists. Sorry Florida- you’re beautiful, but sometimes the people that visit you can make it look not so beautiful.

 

Eat:

• SHOR American Seafood Grill in the Hyatt Regency
• The Original Crabby Bills
• PJ’s oyster bar
• Jake’s Costal Cantina

 

Did:

• George C. McGough Nature Park
• Honeymoon island state park
• Clearwater community sailing center
• Caladesi Island State Park
• Marine island boat rentals