Clam Pass Beach

September 25, 2014

I had planned to go to the beach for my birthday but with the weather looking iffy for Friday I decided to go on Thursday instead.

Since I am on the beach diet I tried a new beach....Clam Pass.  It has a huge hotel on the beach ( formerly the Waldorf Astoria and now The Naples Grand).  I arrived in the parking lot at 9:05 and there were few cars there.  Did I have the right location?  My question was soon answered by a friendly driver of a shuttle to the beach.  Yep...a shuttle.  The beach was over a half mile away and with all the stuff I was taking with me   ( for only two hours....I gotta not bring so much stuff next time) so the shuttle was a welcome site.  It picks up passengers at the hotel first and then comes back to the parking lot for non hotel guests.

The Naples Grand


The driver was very friendly and when I told him that it was my first visit to this beach I got the grand speech about all the things that I would find at the beach.  Paddleboards, jet skis , a snack bar that serves breakfast, lunch and drinks ....and of course a beach umbrella and chair for rent.

Now that's what I call a beach chair.  It's more like a bed!

When I arrived on the beach there were not many people there.  Did I miss something?  Was the beach closed for bathing?  What I did see was a lone bagpiper dressed in full kilts playing his bagpipes!

 

 

I got my beach chair set up, the umbrella up and decided to relax for a little while.  Well that didn't last long.  I decided to walk the beach up in the north direction and was stopped by an inlet that was recently made because of the low tide.

I talked to a gentleman who was taking pictures of birds in the area.   He said that this inlet was not there the day before.  It was caused by storms and low tide.   Amazing what nature does.

I headed back down the beach and decided it was time to swim in the Gulf.  

Any entrance to the water had seaweed.  Maybe that's why no one was on the beach.  

I went swimming anyway.  The water was the warmest it has been since I arrived.  It definitely was not the cleanest water I had been in since arriving here but it was certainly ok for swimming.

The day was going fast.  I had only two hours to spend at the beach today as the reparimen who are fixing the problems with the house were scheduled from 12-4.  I reluctantly headed home....

Here's what I arrived to when I got home.

Well worth coming home!