Bicycle to Sand Key Park

We have a few days before our GIGANTIC round of social visits with friends and family begin, so we're making the most of the time we have to get out and about.  We've been in Clearwater before, so we have some ideas of things we haven't done and would like to do.

One was a 20-mile bike, out to Sand Key Park beyond Clearwater Beach and back:

To get there by bicycle involves a 4 or 5 mile ride into downtown Clearwater, then crossing the main causeway to Clearwater Beach.  Once through Clearwater Beach, we rode a second causeway across the passage into Clearwater Bay, to Sand Key.  The park occupies the northen end of Sand Key, from bay to ocean.

We had some unexpected adventures along the way!  Bicycling through the Skycrest neighborhood along Cleveland Street, we ran across this cute sign, but wondered why it would be posted in a neighborhood:

No sooner did we ask about the sign, than we spotted a pond along the street, filled with all sorts of duck and bird life!  Here a couple of Muscovy ducks swam idly over to see if we had any handouts:

Even this curious Ibis got in on the act:

Another pair of Muscovy ducks were herding their downy yellow ducklings along the water's edge, and rushed them into the weeds as we approached:

Further downtown, Cleveland Street has been redesigned to limit auto traffic.  Many interesting stores, restaurants and - yes - a brewpub have popped up.  We were sorely tempted to get off our bikes and look around, but we had many miles to pedal and so thought better of it.

Here's a view as we cycled up to the crest of the main causeway to Clearwater Beach --

-- and a view from the causeway --

-- and a view from the causeway toward Clearwater Beach:



We had forgotten how much Clearwater recognizes the Philadelphia Phillies as their adopted team. We were reminded of this as we pedaled past a long row of Phillies banners along the causeway:



We've posted photos and blogs about Clearwater Beach before, and it was not our main goal, so we'll pass on those things this time around.  Here is a photo from the crest of the second causeway, looking out to the ocean, with Sand Key Park to the left and Clearwater Beach to the right:

Once we got to the beach at Sand Key Park, we had some refreshment and relaxed our pedaling muscles with a stroll down the beach:

We took the occasion to scout out the beaches for Katie, and for Matt, Weina and William, when they come to visit.  While Clearwater Beach has beautiful, soft, white sand (probably trucked in), parking and beach gear rentals are more expensive, and it is more built up with hotels, shops and restaurants. Sand Key Park has been kept mainly natural, although it does have beach gear rentals and a food concession; the sand, however, is that gritty, broken-shell sand that is more characteristic of the beaches on the east coast of South Florida.

Having satisfied our curiosity and completed our scouting mission, we turned back and pedaled home. We learned that 4:00 pm is NOT a good time to leave Clearwater Beach.  The traffic was so heavy that it backed up the entire length of the causeway from Clearwater proper back to Clearwater Beach.  On our bicycles, we moved just as fast as the vehicles did.

Then, having gotten back up to the crest of the island from town, back through the pretty neighborhoods on Cleveland Street, we hit heavy gridlock as Phillies game-leaving traffic encountered rush hour traffic.  This time we outpaced the vehicles.  We also learned a lesson:  Never, EVER, drive on the streets of Clearwater before or after a Phillies home game.