The view from The Hurricane restaurant

After a great day at the beach, we went up to the roof of The Hurricane to enjoy the view.

Pass A Grille beach with Egmont Key in the distance.

The water was a clear turquoise blue.  I like this beach in the summer, because you can park close to the beach, set up camp, and the water is right there.  That makes a big difference when you're walking in the blazing Florida sun.  There are no buildings directly on the beach and it's a beautiful setting.

The pink palace on the right on the horizon is the historic Don Cesar hotel at St. Pete Beach.  To get to Pass A Grille, keep driving south past the Don Cesar along Gulf Boulevard.

After taking in the scenery from the third floor roof we went down for a walk on the beach.  The colors in the clouds became more vibrant after sundown.

Boogie Boarding at Madeira Beach

It was great to get up in the morning and go for a walk on the beach. The wind was still whipping up waves. After we left the hotel in St. Pete Beach we went out for breakfast and went to Madeira Beach. The waves were even bigger than the night before.

This man was fighting the fish and the waves.

We had so much fun that we stayed most of the afternoon.

Staycation at St. Pete Beach

I needed to get away from it all and booked a hotel on the beach for one night. The Rainy Season has just begun and off season rates are in effect. The day before going to the hotel I checked the weather and it was supposed to rain all weekend. Drats!

It's very unusual for us to have non-stop rain all weekend. Usually small thunderstorms blow around the area. They can dump torrential rain in 15-20 minutes and then the sun comes out again.

When we got to the beach it was overcast and windy. The waves were perfect for body boarding! We had a great time.

We watched the sun go down over the Gulf of Mexico from the steps of the hotel.

Here's my view from the porch.  The sunset was beautiful. I think I have about 100 pictures of these palm trees with the sunset.

The colors became even more brilliant after the sun dipped below the horizon.  We went for a walk on the beach after sunset.  I felt like I was far away, even though I was less than an hour away from home.