Caladesi Island

If you're looking for some secluded sand, and a beach that is not overly crowded and has some beautiful clear water then Caladesi is one of the best beaches in the Tampa, St. Pete, Clearwater area. Island video. As a local we typically get to the beach from the Dunedin Causeway located right off hwy 19 on hwy 580 heading West. I recommend two options of getting to the island once you're ready to go.
1. From Dunedin Causeway itself you can rent a Kayak right from the beach and paddle over and it gives you a great experience and allows you to explore other areas that are right on the beach and along the intercostal waterway. $70 for a two person Kayak for the whole day.
2. From the West side of Dunedin Causeway you can take a ferry that departs on a regular basis, takes 20 minutes and you can stay up to 4 hours based on when you go. The trip is $14.00/person and kids 5 and under are free. Both options are very good and based on your situation you should check both out. I personally have never taken the ferry but have seen it go by and can be a very relaxing and easy beach going option. If you want a more connect with nature and freedom to explore experience you should try the Kayak and experience the beach and the closeness to the water. The waterway between Dunedin and Caladesi can be busy in the summer with boats and other water vehicles. The water in the winter and on windy days can be rough due to the pass between Honeymoon island and Caladesi. Once on the island there are long stretches of open sand and areas that are restricted due to bird sanctuaries so be mindful of the environment and take trash with you when you depart. Also there are no facilities on the island unless you take the Ferry across. But packing your own food, drinks and snacks is a good way to enjoy the island in a rather affordable manner and get away to a beach that is not busy and has some unique and beautiful views.

Hit the Beaches

Beaches around Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater are abundant
There is one thing about Florida we have Beaches. Some of the best ones
are listed in all the newspapers and articles that rate beaches every
year. We who live here don't put much stock in those "ratings" because
they are market driven, advertisement, travel promotions that sometimes
exaggerate and do not take into account "what" the beach looks like
today. One year North Ft. Desoto had the #1 rating.....well just so
happened we had a horrible red tide bloom that year and that entire
beach had dead fish on it and it smelled horrible, still an amazing
beach BUT it may have been a surprise if you would have shown up just to
see it.. SO here is what is happening right now on our beaches.
A lot of rain has made the beaches a pretty place to be the cloud cover
is making for some tremendously beautiful sunsets and some of the best
places to see the sunsets in Florida is on our beaches. Obviously we are
on the west coast of Florida so the sun sets over the ocean.

The beaches are in fantastic shape and the waters are nice a clear despite the rain
we have had all summer so far. Remember our summertime patterns for
weather here can be a little crazy from Hurricanes, to Thunderstorms,
heavy electrical storms to wind and blazing heat and humidity.
Clearwater beaches can never be a bad choice. All Along Gulf Blvd you
can find public access and multiple places to get to the water. Watch
illegal parking they love to write tickets to fine people for illegal
parking.
Tampa proper doesn't have many beaches per say unless you are talking
about the bay beaches along Gandy Blvd or 275 or Courtney Campbell
causeway those are local hangouts and can be an option but they do not
offer the full "turquoise" water and white sand experience but you can
find a lot more wildlife, fishing and birds at these locations. The one
of the most popular ones on these roads is the beach on the South East
side of the Courtney Campbell causeway (hwy 60).
St. Pete beaches are another good choice and they extend from Clearwater
down to Ft. Desoto which also has its own beaches and I will talk more
about it later and in my post "Ft. Desoto, Explore a Historic Fort in
our backyard."  St. Pete has St. Pete Beach and it also has John's Pass
a famous location for shopping and fishing charters and has some good
beach and site seeing right on the water.

These are all Beaches that offer the typical beach atmosphere. Sand,
People and long stretches slowly rolling waves and seashells. If you are
looking for a hidden secret that most people are not familiar with try a
more remote beach that just about anyone can afford to go to and is
accessible with just a short paddle of a kayak.  Caladesi Island is a
favorite island of mine and of many locals and it can be accessed rather
easily.  Check out my "Caladesi Island, A Beach by itself."

Joey's Pizza - Marco Island

Wanted to go out into town and have something different and maybe a little more affordable than the typical resort fair. So we heàded into town and foud Joeys. It was already 9:45pm so we thought it might be closed because the islands in southern Florida always seem to close early. But it was open and thankfully so. The restuàrant is decorated in an old Italian theme, The Waiters and Waitresses are all in black and they all seemed pretty attentive. I did not snap any pics but should have becuse the food was very appetizing looking. The Deep Dish stle pizza was about 3 inches think and looked huge. The hand tossed looked similar to a new york style and the Super Thin looked very crispy.
We ordered the hand tossed at the suggestion of the waitress because of the number of toppings we had the combination and she said if it was the thin crust it might not turn out as good. My Wife had a Beer and after being on the beach all day I needed just water. All in all the food came out fast, hot prepared as we wanted it and we never wanted for a drink. The bill came to under $30 for the small pizza (more like a medium, perfect for two to four people). I highly reccommend Joey's and hope to return to try some of the other items on the menu and the deserts.

Camping on Florida's Beaches - Segment 3

Setting up Camp

This is an important step and should be thought out.  If you have more than one tent going then placement will help with many things.

Arranging your tents

1. 
   
   Scout your area in advance. If you can go to the area and see whats there you may have a better chance of finding a good smooth spot to put your tents up.
2. TIDES. Make sure if you setup close to the water that you don't setup in a tidal area that will be under water when the tide is high.
3. Mangroves and No-See-Ums. If you setup near the water and there are no mangroves too close you will be much happier. HOWEVER they will still be there. Make sure your tent is zipped up about 2 hrs before sunset to seal it off from the little critters. Also if you can sleep with a pair of light long pants, and a light long sleeve shirt this will keep the critters off most of you and if you sleep with a sheet as a cover you can use that to cover all the way up while your sleeping. trust me this will make you more comfortable.
4. 
   
   Find the direction of the wind and depending on where your Camp Fire will be place your tents Up wind of the fire so they don't get smoked out.
5. 
   
   Place a Tarp on the ground towards the front of the main entrance so that you have an area in front of the tent that will have less sand on it and give you an entrance area.
6. 
   
   Setup a Clothes Line so you have a place to hang shirts or towels. Two long poles with a string in between them and then two support strings staked at 45degree angles should hold the line. Make sure your stakes are in the groud  good and hold the weight of what your placing on the line. Long Sand Stakes are better if you have them.
7. 
   
   Your tent should be free Standing and only need stakes to ensure the wind doesn't blow away your tent. Put your rain cover on so you don't have to worry about it later on. This also will help with Hunidity over night.
8. Keeping Sand out of the tent is a chore. The best bet is to have a bucket of water that you can step into and then step out onto a towel or directly into the tent without any sand on your feet. this will eliminate about 90% of the sand in your tent.
9. For your beach Fire you don't really need to dig a pit BUT it does help with containing the area. However starting the fire can be tougher if you dig it so deep that you don't have a good wind flow to it.

These are a few Camp Setup things to think about and may help you out with your comfort while camping on Floridas beaches.

See Florida Boat Beach Camping - Segment 4

Where is the Best Place to watch a Tampa Bay Rays Game

Where is the best place to watch a Rays Game? As I was getting ready to sit down and watch the Rays on TV I figured since they were out of town I would find a place to watch the Rays game and enjoy some company and a little additional fan excitement by watching the Rays game at a local bar, sports establishment or eatery. If they were at home I would be in my season ticket seats at the TROP! But since they are not home lets find a place so I looked online and found nothing that said "THIS IS THE PLACE" so I decided to make my own list. I am from Tampa so it is probably "Tampa Centric" however if you leave comments to this post I will make sure to approve them for posting.

1. Fergs! (yes not Tampa But if your going to watch the game this is by far the best place to do it.)
2. Beef O'Bradys (Good because its local and pretty sports oriented.)
3. Wing House (another local place and pretty good)
4. Lee Roy Selmons (Another local place good food good prices and sports Oriented)
5. The Press Box (Dale Mabry, Never been here but they have Celebs and specials during games)
6. The Cop Shop (Oldsmar hangout that is pretty good, lots of tv's and drink specials)
7. Buffalo Wild Wings (Lots of TV's and WINGS)(They also turn the sound up for the Rays Games
8. The Long Bar (The owner Francis is a Rays Fan and he has Great Pizza, Good Wings and a Great Crowd)
9. Varsity  near Tarpon

10. Hattricks (Downtown Tampa, great sports oriented bar even better for Lightning games.)

After thoughts.

-- Any Applebees shows the game
-- City Fish (Oldsmar)
-- Rumbas (Oldsmar)
-- Bostons on Anderson Road
-- Most local bars will show it.
-- MacDintons Tampa Westchase area
-- Champps in the International Mall
-- Courtside in Oldsmar
-- Hooters (as you can tell I like wings)

So if your headed out and find a great place send a comment to here and I would love to have more choices....for now I'll just stick to what I know....GO RAYS!!!

RUMBA's Island Grill - Valentines Day

My wife had been going to Rumba's at lunch with her work friends and she finally said lets go there for Dinner on Valentines Day. We decided to go to the new one we knew of on Tampa Road in Oldsmar. I went on Urban Spoon read the reviews there and decided despite some of the bad reviews the majority were GOOD. So off we went at about 5:45pm wanting to beat the Valentines day rush. However when we got there it was already pretty packed and when we went to the front desk to ask for a table they asked if we had a reservation. NO, at a Island Grill and Bar? Anyway they said it would be 25 minutes. So we decided to wait at the bar and found two seats and sat down. Immediately the bar tender "Jessica" got us drinks. It went from being a wait to a fun time sitting at the bar watching all the people.

At $1.49 a Beer and two for one drinks it was actually a great time just waiting. At almost to the minute the front desk girl CAME to us where we were sitting and told us our table was ready. We sat down the waitress "Gabrielle" came to our table and took our order. This is where it got very good. the food was excellent. Great flavor, outstanding presentation and an excellent price. It wasn't  over the top with SUPER hot plates you can't touch or all crowded on your plate to make it look like a lot, it was just prepared well and then delivered well. I was very surprised. It was very busy in the entire restaurant, with a band outside all the tables full the bar full and the inside full but the manager I think her name was Tracy made it a point to check in on us as well .

A very good night and when we were done we made our way back to the bar had a few more drinks and met some great people that said the place is even better on a Friday Night. My recommendation is that when you try a restaurant and you have a bad experience and you want to make that your only impression of a place make sure you return and give it a fair chance, MAYBE just MAYBE you were more stressed out then you thought and part of the experience was your own creation. I couldn't find fault with anything done at this restaurant and on one of the busiest nights of the year for going out they made it a pleasant and enjoyable evening.

Square 1 Burger - gourmet burgers with a south Tampa attitude

This is a nice off the beaten path restaurant. Burgers are gonna cost about the same as most sit down places but the kicked back service and the choices are what set this place apart. 20+ burgers and the choices of kobe, turkey and buffalo give them all a uniqueness of thier own. The Red wine and bleu is a good choice.