Spring Break at the Beach

Pass-a-Grille beach on a sunny March Saturday

I love to swim, and I have my favorite swimming areas, all over North America. Some of them are northern lakes, like the Lake Temiscaming of my childhood or the lovely, cold Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota. I love ocean beaches like New River Beach in New Brunswick or Cocoa Beach in Florida. I'm never really happy on a boat ride unless I can swim ... that's just the way I am.

However, there's no swimming hole I like better than a good pool, like the one we have in our condo complex in St. Pete Beach. We hadn't been swimming in the Gulf of Mexico yet this year, so we decided to go early yesterday morning and enjoy a beautiful stretch of beach in Pass-a-Grille, named in the Florida Top Ten on this list and many others.

We've learned from previous beach junkets so we went the minimalist route. My only "extra" was my Samsung point-and-shoot camera; it's older now and all the pictures on it were backed up, so I wasn't worried. We locked up our phones and brought only chairs, towels, and sunscreen.

We arrived shortly after 10:30 a.m. so we got good parking and a nice spot to sit. The most fun was watching families with young children and young spring breakers parading up and down the beach.

What's not to like about spring break?

I was in an out of the cool, refreshing gulf water several times. The sun was very bright so I wore my sunglasses and restricted my swimming, but that was OK because only the serious distance swimmers out beyond the buoys were really getting any exercise in. The waves were gentle and soothing. Bob swam too, and his new knee was stable and strong.

The people watching may have been just a bit too interesting. We stayed for four hours, and Bob got a sunburn on his neck and chest. I've had far too many sunburns in my life, so I was well covered when I was out of the water, though my face is a little red today.

The day was windy and we were covered with sand and salt when we left the beach. I threw everything in our convenient washer and we were soon enjoying a cold vodka tonic on the shady deck.