Clearwater Beach Vacation 2010

We had a wonderful time away on our summer vacation this year in Clearwater Beach, FL! It was beautiful get away. and so nice to get away from it all.

Here's our condo. We stayed in the 2nd unit from the left on the bottom floor. The parking was beneath us on the ground level so our car stayed nice and cool during the day and we had a slightly elevated view of the beach:

Here's the living room of our home away from home. We had three sliding glass windows that gave us a panoramic view of the ocean. It was wonderful to open the blinds up in the morning to the view of the gulf:

Our view from the balcony:
From our beach looking south towards the pier:

Looking north to the residential area:
Day 1 of vacation (Saturday):
We arrived in CB about 3pm, checked and settled into the condo then headed out toward the pier to check the area out. We walked nearly every where we went. The pier with the marina, surf shops and many restaurants was just over a half mile from the condo so it made for a nice stroll.

Here's John and Leah at the CB sign at the pier:

Picture perfect- what vacation should look like:

The view of the beach from the pier:

John on the pier:

Leah and me on the pier:

Me and John on the strip:

John and me in the palm grove just off the pier:

The beautiful sunset God blessed us with on our first night:

Day 2 (Sunday):

We had some of the family over to the condo for a day at the beach. It was wonderful to see everyone and have a chance to catch up.

From the left: Kellie, Gerard, Steve, John and me:

Day 3 (Monday):

We had a quiet morning then headed down to the beach for a few hours before Tom (one of John's brothers) came with his girlfriend to meet us for dinner at the delicious Palm Pavilion.

We rented wave runners to pass the time. Here' s John on his:

Here's Leah and me on ours. The guy said that when I took my hand off the gas we would "float to a stop". Totally didn't happen. I'd take my hand off and it was like we hit a brick wall! There was no float. We had so much fun on ours we would scream and laugh. At a few times we'd get going so fast that we'd be scared and (silly me) would tighten my grip in the handle bars (and the gas) out of fear. lol! It was a blast!

Day 4 (Tuesday):

We had another lazy morning then walked down through the marina before our Segway tour at 2pm.

Here's some pelicans we saw:

The Pelican Club:

Here's Captain Memo's Ship- they would cruise around and fire cannons at the beach everyday. It was neat to see an old pirate ship out on the water:

Us on our Segways. We had a super fun time on the tour. Jean, our tour guide, took us onto the mainland part of Clearwater and guided us through the historic district. We got to see many multi million dollar mansions. The Segways were a lot easier to ride than I thought they would be.

Day 5 (Wednesday):

We went to Fort Desoto for the day. We started off with kayaking along the inter coastal water way around the Fort. When we were coming back, we came across a heard of wild manatees, one of which was begging to be petted. He would come over to the kayak and sniff at you then he would stick his little face up wanting you to scratch his nose and head. Then he would let you scratch his back before he rolled over for a belly rub. At one point he rolled over upside down and swam under my kayak and allowed me to hold a flipper in each hand. He was so sweet! In this picture, if you look close, you can see his face:

Getting his chin scratched and preparing for another belly rub:

After the kayaking we had lunch at a little picnic spot:

Me after lunch:

We then headed over to the Fort Area:

John and Leah at the cannons:

Looking at the artillery from the embankment above:

Me and John in a tropical paradise:

My best friend Amy told us to check out the camp ground b/c it has neat trees. She didn't mention anything about the wild beauty! We wanted to camp there so bad- maybe sometime soon...:

Day 6 (Thursday):

Deep Sea fishing on the Double Eagle. This was Leah's and my first time out deep sea fishing and catching saltwater fish. We spent the hour long ride out on the top deck:

Leah's first catch- a gray snapper. They made the funniest grunting sound when they were out of the water. They sounded just like pigs! Leah and I were cracking up!:

My first catch- a grouper. He had to go back b/c they only allow you to keep ones 20in or longer:

John's first catch of the day- a gray snapper:

John and me:

Day 7 (Friday):

We spent our last full day on vacation hanging out on the beach.

My toes in the sand:

John was feeding the seagulls baked lays. We tried to feed them some of the almonds we had, but they didn't like them.

Two seagulls just soaking up the view and catching some rays like us:

A beautiful sunset:

We had a blast! I really didn't want to leave, but we had to. :*( I can't wait until we go back. Hopefully the oil spill in the gulf won't completely destroy that area. I kept feeling like our time there was so short and that we needed to make the most of every moment b/c soon it may all be gone. At least we had our time while we were there.