Caladesi Bike & Hike

This took some convincing, but after telling Chris multiple times "oh it'll be fun, lets ride our bikes along the beach!" he finally agreed probably just to get me quiet.   We drove as far up into Clearwater Beach as possible and found somewhere to park.  The camera, snacks and drinks in hand we were off.   First you take off on the bikes and find access to the beach.   

You then proceed to ride your bikes in the sand along the water.  WOW, I forgot that this is difficult.

After riding for 1-2 miles you come to a sign where bikes are no permitted any further.  We locked them to the sign and then was off on foot.

This is the map of the whole hike we took.   It ended up being over 5 miles just on foot.

Our first find was a Horse Conch (Triplofusus Giganeteus). Wikipedia Link

This cute little bird here was eating one of the many small conch's that had washed to shore.

There was one of the floating balls for a trap on the beach, so Chris started pulling it.  Sure enough, a trap eventually showed up filled with shrimp, crabs and one fish.

We didn't plan on our time very well and the sun was setting.   Now it was time to hike back in the dark.

Fortunately our bikes were still at the sign where we left them :)

So try riding 1.5 miles in the wet sand!  It's a bit more exhausting then I remember, or I'm just that out of shape.   When we finally found a beach access, from a wedding earlier in the day,they kindly left out lemonade, tea, and water.   It would have been stealing if we helped our self to a glass of the unattended beverages, so of course we didn't do that...

Finally, Back to the vehicle!   Now time for some Pizza at Christinos.