Clearwater / Tarpon Springs KOA
Tarpon Springs, Florida
A touch of Clearwater Beach
Marc- We decided to explore some more of the coastline here on the West Coast of Florida and travelled to Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Dunedin (we asked the lady running the information center how to pronounce the name of the town. Her answer? "Done Eatin"). Clearwater is a very tourist developed area with many high rise hotels, a long fishing pier, well developed marina and beautiful beaches. Our second stop was the city of St. Petersburg with lots to do on its waterfront including two world class art museums, St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts and the Dali Museum. The city has created several large waterfront parks with restaurants, marinas, history museum and amusement park and an actual beach. We then headed North to Dunedin which is a gem of a town on the Gulf coast with many small shops and three ice cream parlors. The town has created beautiful parks in its center. Our last stop was Honeymoon Island State Park in Dunedin. This Gulf barrier island is connected to the mainland by a long causeway and a drawbridge. The Park is mostly in its natural state with facilities for visitors including a snack bar and a nature center. We walked several trails on the Northern end of the Island seeing several ospreys, an osprey nest and an eagle nest. The osprey were particularly active. Our highlight was meeting a gopher tortoise. Honeymoon Island also has excellent beaches.
Clearwater Beach Marina
Tiki Happy Hour motorized barges.
Clearwater tour boats.
Clearwater Beach
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Pelican welcome to St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg from the fuel dock.
Action at the fuel dock.
Beautiful Tampa Bay water in St. Petersburg.
55 year old Bombax (a type of Kapok) tree in front of the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts.
Kapok tree blossoms.
The Provincetown to Boston high speed ferry is working in St. Petersburg for the winter.
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Dunedin sign.
Dunedin Harbor
Dunedin is Spring Training Home to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Outside to old Dunedin Train Station (the former tracks are now part of a 30 mile long bike trail).
There is an ice cream shop in an old freight car behind the train station.
A colorful little free library in town.
Newlyweds actually came to honeymoon on this island in the early 1940's.
Osprey Trail.
Gopher Turtoise
An osprey with its nest nearby.
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Another osprey.
Osprey on lookout.
Osprey live entirely on a diet of fish (photo is from a park sign)
A few other birds in the Park.
Beachgoers
Honeymoon Island beaches
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