Tag: clearwater marina

A morning out on water

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, Florida animals, Tampa bay sights2 Comments

My sister and I were out at Sand Key beach early in the morning to look for shells since we had a 10am dolphin tour booked nearby.  We didn’t find a lot of shells at this beach compared to Honeymoon Island but I did find some interesting clam shells. The 1st one looks like it had the insides coming out. I couldn’t tell if it was alive but the tide was coming in and would wash it back out.  The next two are front and back of another shell I picked up. It had a lot of things living on it. The barnacles were still alive so I tossed it back in the water.

At the Clearwater marina, waiting for our boat tour to leave.

We went by the new Clearwater Sound. It’s an outdoor music venue that sits next to the big public library.

A view of the intercoastal waterway.

A view from the small spoil island we stopped at.

An empty urchin that Debbie found on the little beach. This came home with us.

Heading back into the marina. We saw lots of dolphins and I realized I didn’t take any pictures of them. I just had my phone with me and stayed in the back so everyone else could see the dolphins up close. It’s fun seeing the reactions when the kids see them.

Lunch was at an open air restaurant at the marina. Above is the view from our table.

We walked around a bit and saw some of the early half day fishing boats coming in after lunch. You can buy fresh fish right off the boat if they have a big catch. The pelicans hang around hoping for a hand out.

If you are ever in the Clearwater area I highly recommend taking the Encounters With Dolphins tour out of Clearwater Beach. We have taken several and always had a great time.

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Looking for dolphins

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography2 Comments

The weather was too nice during the week of Thanksgiving not to be outside all week. My sister and I booked a dolphin tour out of the Clearwater marina one morning. Even if we didn’t see any dolphins, it would be a fun trip out on the water.

We were not going out to far, staying in the intercoastal waterway area. The tide was super low so we had to stay right at the channel markers. I could see Sand Key beach far off to the right.

Right away we saw a dolphin! We were cruising along next to another tour boat and a dolphin was right behind them, chasing the waves. Of course we were facing right into the sun so it was hard to get good shots. I see a lot of dolphins down at Fort Desoto but rarely see them coming out of the water this much so this was fun.

Some of the birds we saw cruising around including two white pelicans flying high up.

We also saw several dolphins chasing fish into the sea walls. They were flapping the water hard to stun the fish. After all of the dolphin sightings we headed out to a small spit island to look for shells. More on that later.

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Starting vacation

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights3 Comments

The Monday before Thanksgiving I headed to the airport to pick up my sister who was coming to spend the week with us. I had a few minutes before she got off the plane so I snapped the above of this beautiful tree near her concourse. Even though it was a bit early, it still put me in the vacation spirit.

It was beautiful outside so after lunch we headed over to Clearwater beach. It’s always fun being a tourist in my own town when she comes to visit. We ended up at the Clearwater marina later that afternoon and watched the fishing boats come in (it was something we use to do with our parents when we were growing up and came here to visit our grandparents).

We decided to stay for sunset even though the clouds were moving in quickly. The sky looked like it was on fire as the sun went down. While we were there we thought we might as well have dinner on the beach too. A great way to start the week.

My Corner of the World

Last of the Thanksgiving tourist tour

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights1 Comment

Cruising along Clearwater bay looking for dophins.  Lots of big buildings going up around the beach including the new expanded Clearwater Marine Aquarium, home of Winter the movie star dolphin from A Dolphin’s Tale who lost his tail and was given a prosthetic tail.

Anyone want a boat real cheap?  An abandoned boat near the marina.

Cruising by some of the big old historic homes along the intercoastal waterway.

Out along Sand Key.

Two osprey taking a bath on a sand spit during low tide.

We stopped at a spoil island near Sand Key and looked for some shells. The ones that were still alive were put back in the water.

The last day my sisters were here visiting we took a 2 hour dolphin tour out of Clearwater marina. After living here for almost 18 years it was the first time I had done that. It was fun being out on the water on such a beautiful morning. We finally did see some dolphins coming back to the marina but I didn’t take any pictures. The boat was fairly full and I hung back letting all of the tourists see them from the edge of the boat. It’s fun to see people’s reactions when they see one for the first time out in the wild. Living here we take things for granted. I saw 3 of them coming home from work recently while I was stuck in traffic on the bridge.

SkyWatch Friday

Clearwater marina

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights5 Comments

Over Thanksgiving weekend I was being a tourist in my own town. It was easy to do since I actually had tourists with me. When my sisters were visiting we decided to take a dolphin tour out of Clearwater marina. Brett and I don’t get over to this beach area often since it’s usually busy and things like work get in the way so it was fun to walk around the marina on a cool sunny morning.

There’s a no wake zone coming out of the marina area so we went really slow until we got out into the open intercoastal water. I was snapping pictures along the way. We did finally see dolphins. More on that later.

On the way home we stopped by the Safety Harbor fishing pier and a manatee was cruising under the pier. I was able to snap the above with my phone as he went by.

image-in-ing: weekly photo linkup

Our World Tuesday Graphic

Being a tourist, continued

On By dinajohnstonIn bird photography1 Comment

If you look closely you can always find birds at a marina. While my sister and I walked around the Clearwater Beach marina, we saw tons of pelicans, great egrets and snowy egrets. Birds we didn’t see that are usually there are great blue herons and green herons. They hang around the docks hoping to be fed the scraps when the fishing boats come in and the fisherman fillet the fish right there. I recently found out that it’s illegal to feed birds fish parts. The pelican’s pouch is very delicate and made to swallow the fish whole. If there are bones sticking out, they will puncture the pouch and tear, keeping the pelican from being able to scoop up fish on their own. They will eventually starve. The bird sanctuaries in the area are full of pelicans with torn pouches from eating fish parts. Another reason why wild animals should not be fed.

Signs at the fishing piers that people seem to ignore.

Another episode of “Being a Tourist on the Beach”

On By dinajohnstonIn Tampa bay sights5 Comments

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I rarely go to Clearwater Beach anymore.  It’s very crowded and cost a fortune to park, if you can get a parking spot. Although, it is fun to go over every once in while to see what’s going on.  Right after I picked up my sister from the airport we headed over to the beach to walk around. She had not been in several years.  We were hoping to get a good sunset but dark clouds had moved in.  I guess the weather had kept most people indoors because it wasn’t too crowded the Tuesday before Christmas. It was fun walking around the beach and marina.

SkyWatch Friday