Reply to Clearwater beach/Tampa

Forum Index » Travel Discussion

Reply to "Clearwater beach/Tampa"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have family in that area and were there for Thanksgiving. We wandered all around Madeira Beach, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach etc. and everything was still a mess from the hurricanes. We had trouble finding a place that was open for a weekday lunch. Just FYI.[/quote]

St. Pete is a beach town, a lot of the restaurants are seasonal.

If you went into St. Petersburg proper, there's a ton of stuff.

OP, Clearwater was great last year in mid April -- gorgeous beach weather and yes warm enough to swim. I don't care if it has a "middle class" vibe -- the white sand beaches there are some of the nicest in the US.[/quote]

My parents live in Gulfport, and are friends with many business owners in St. Pete Beach. Lots of them aren't coming back. The restaurants aren't seasonal, they're year round because of so many snowbirds. Unfortunately, the entire island was swamped by Helene and now everyone is stuck in limbo with FEMA (as are a great many people in Pinellas County). Even if you manage to get a determination letter from FEMA so you can rebuild, the permitting process is incredibly backed up. No permit, no work. Can't reopen when you can't meet code.

A lot are just cutting their losses. Climate change is only making storms like Debbie and Helene and Milton more likely, and all three caused damage to the Tampa/St. Pete area in 2024. The risk just doesn't feel worth is to some people, so they are pulling out. The uncertainty around if they'll be able to rebuild and when they might be able to even start that work is also driving decisions about leaving.[/quote]

A lot in Gulfport is closed but a lot is open.

And in any case, April would be in-season for any tourist business. Things that are seasonal may close down in May or June until Oct or Nov - they won't be closed in April.

It's been a hard stretch in Florida. We had red tide, then COVID, then hurricanes and more hurricanes. I don't blame anyone deciding they don't want to live here anymore. If we were picking a place to move to today, we probably wouldn't choose Florida, either - we moved from DC about 10 years ago - in part because of all that and in part because the politics has gotten so much more extreme. (Though that's the case across America, I guess.)

But we're here. And we still really enjoy ourselves here. Today it's going to be 70 degrees. And if OP wants to come be a tourist in April, she'll probably have a good time.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics