Yesterday we decided to take advantage of some of the resort activities. First we had a “photography” session. As in the girl who scoops ice cream and folds towels takes pictures of you with a fancy digital camera. It was super awkward because she didn’t have any idea what to do and had us facing the sun at 9am which meant we couldn’t open our eyes.

Then we went to the watersports area and borrowed a couple of kayaks. Nole was a little nervous about kayaking but the waves weren’t a problem and we had a great time.

We rented a beach bed again and spent most of the day reading. We brought snorkel masks and flippers with us and spent some time looking for shells under the water.

We saw a pirate ship and a sting ray.

We stayed on the beach bed until the rental place was closing down and then went for dinner at Frenchie’s which was recommended by Captain Speg.

Nole had the world famous grouper sandwich and I had the Baja shrimp tacos and crab fries. I fell asleep very early (8pm?). I guess I had too much fresh air.

I was up early this morning and Nole and I were kind of not sure what to do today. We could lay around the pool or maybe do something in Tampa….or we still had one recommendation left from George the Uber driver which was to walk to Caladesi Island. It used to be only accessable by boat but now you can walk there on the beach. We decided to walk up that way and see how far we got. It was a pretty long walk and we were looking for shells along the way.

We each found a sand dollar which was exciting. We got lots of cool shells too–the further we went up the beach, the fewer people and the more shells there were. At the end of north beach we had to walk in the water to get around some mangrove trees. Once we passed the mangroves there was no one around at all. Next time we come to Clearwater Beach we will definitely be coming here sooner.

I would have liked to lay on the beach and swim here but when we looked at tie time, it was 10am and we had to check out at 11. It took us an hour and half to walk there so I contacted to hotel for a late checkout.

Our feet were hurting when we got back (a combination of walking 6 miles in sand and being out of shape) and we grabbed our already packed bags and hopped in an Uber back to the airport . This has been a very relaxing vacation with lots of good food and maybe the most beautiful beach I have ever visited. We will definitely be back!