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Explore Tampa Bay
The Greater Tampa Bay area straddles
two major Florida counties, Hillsborough County which includes the metropolitan Tampa area, and Pinellas
County which includes the metropolitan St. Petersburg area. The line between these two counties runs
straight down the middle of Tampa Bay, which separates Tampa from St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is on
the Gulf of Mexico coast, and to the north are the towns of Pinellas Park, Largo, Clearwater, Dunedin,
Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey. At the southern end of St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay on the
east meets Boca Ciega Bay on the west along the Intracoastal Waterway, at the entrance to the Sunshine
Skyway, the longest cable-stayed concrete bridge in the world, which joins the northern half of the Sun
Coast to its southern half and the Southwest Florida towns of Bradenton, Sarasota, Ft. Myers and Naples,
running along the line between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. On the east side of Tampa Bay, east and
north of metropolitan Tampa, are the communities of Brandon, Temple Terrace and Plant City surrounded by
a relatively rural area through which I-4 runs northeast for a couple of hours easy drive to the resort
and amusement capital of Orlando. The Tampa, or east, side of Tampa Bay is markedly different in appearance
and atmosphere from the St. Petersburg, or west, side. Tampa is densely metropolitan, and in some sections
of its downtown areas is reminiscent of inner-city areas in similar size towns in the north of the country.
St. Petersburg and its surrounding communities, in contrast, are much newer in appearance, breezier and more
tropical in feel than on the eastern side of the Bay. Residents frequently make the trip across Tampa Bay
on any of several bridges connecting Tampa and St. Petersburg, because these two major cities, Tampa with
its historic neighborhoods and built-up civic advantages, and St. Petersburg with its relaxing, coastal
ambience, work together to create one of the richest vacation and residential experiences in the country.
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Tampa
Tampa’s downtown area is where the
banks of Florida’s west coast have their home offices, and is also the home of America’s cigar industry.
The University of Tampa is located near Tampa’s downtown and, like the Tampa Bay Hotel and other buildings
in the oldest part of Tampa, sports a Moorish dome characteristic of the remaining, preserved original
buildings built by Henry B. Plant, who built the railroad which began Tampa’s transformation from a small
Cuban immigrant community of cigar makers in the late 1800s into the commercial center for the Suncoast it
has become today. The Florida Aquarium, one of the world’s largest and finest aquariums, also is in downtown
Tampa. The historic Cuban community of Ybor City, near the downtown area, with its preserved architecture,
murals and famous old restaurants in recent years also has become a popular nightlife venue. The Tampa
International Airport is conveniently located near downtown and near the causeway entrances that connect
Hillsborough County to St. Petersburg and Clearwater in the west, almost directly across the Bay from the
St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, which makes either airport equally accessible to any point
in the greater Tampa Bay area. Northeast of downtown Tampa is the ever-popular Busch Gardens adventure park
with its variety of zoo areas, restaurants, gift shops and amusements, and nearby is the University of South
Florida.
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St. Petersburg
Called St. Pete by the local residents,
the St. Petersburg Times newspaper has maintained the long-standing practice of giving away its newspaper on
any day that the sun does not shine, which has not happened very often. Downtown St. Petersburg is more
like a park than an urban area, in contrast to Tampa. The Pier, with its upside-down, pyramid-shaped
concessions building at the end, is a popular place just to stroll and listen to the ever-present call of
the seagulls circling the area. The Salvador Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg houses the largest
collection of the artist’s works in the world. Between downtown and St. Petersburg’s southern end is the
beautiful and historic residential community of Roser Park with its old brick streets, royal palms, dense
foliage and Booker Creek which runs through it. Further south is the town of Gulfport, a small residential
community of artists and students of Stetson University Law School, wholly contained within the St. Petersburg
city limits, and just east of the community of South Pasadena along the Intracoastal Waterway and across a
short causeway from the beach communities of Treasure Island and St. Petersburg Beach. At the southern end
of St. Petersburg is the entrance to the Sunshine Skyway, and just before, to the west extends the Bayway
which connects the mainland of St. Petersburg to its beach communities, over the Intracoastal Waterway.
Eckerd College, the only private national liberal arts college in Florida, occupies the entire southwest
corner of St. Petersburg, along Boca Ciega Bay, between the Bayway and the Skyway entrance. In the middle of
the Bayway, between St. Petersburg and the Gulf Coast beaches, a separate causeway branches out to the south,
past the exclusive, upscale residential community of Tierra Verde, to the end of Mullet Key and the beautiful
Fort De Soto Park recreational area.
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The Beaches
Across the Bayway from St. Petersburg is
the almost 30-mile-long strip of land comprising the Gulf Coast beaches of the Tampa Bay area, the
southernmost, quiet and artistic beach community of Pass-a-Grille immediately on the south side of the Bayway
entrance, and the more commercial community of St. Petersburg Beach immediately on the north side of the
Bayway entrance. Continuing north along the beach road from St. Petersburg Beach are the less commercial and
more tropical communities of Treasure Island, with its own small peninsula community of Sunset Beach,
connected by the bridge over John’s Pass to the Sand Key communities of Madeira Beach, Redington Beach,
North Redington Beach, Redington Shores, Indian Shores, Indian Rocks Beach, Belleair Shore, Belleair Beach
and finally Clearwater Beach. To the north of Clearwater Beach is the Caladesi Island State Park
recreational area. Caladesi Island and Fort De Soto Parks have some of the finest beaches in the country.
Characteristic of all of the Gulf beaches is the fine white sand and the unmistakable quality of the
reddish-brown suntan that will tell everyone back home which coast you visited. Each of these communities
has its own assortment of waterfront dining options, unique shops and local attractions, and each deserves
exploration. It may take several visits to see them all, but eventually you will find your favorite among a
variety sufficient to satisfy any appetite or complement any energy level.
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Northern Pinellas County
Across the causeway from Clearwater
Beach is the town of Clearwater, the commercial center of northern Pinellas County, with the residential
communities of Largo, Seminole and Pinellas Park to the south, just north of the St. Petersburg city limits,
and the communities of Dunedin, Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey north of Clearwater at the
top of the county. Tarpon Springs, a Greek community founded in the late 1800s by sponge divers from the
Dodecanese Islands, now has become the Sponge Capital of the World, and offers many Greek dining options,
with many family-run restaurants also offering live Greek folk music with their home-cooked meals, as well
as seasonal festivals along the docks and adjacent waterfront streets lined with sponge shops, old Greek
Orthodox churches and other well-preserved historic buildings.
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