St. Petersburg • Clearwater 2009 - (Page 61) : OUT ON THE WATER Pontoon Boats Pontoon boats, with their wide, flat decks, are the ideal way to tool around the waterways sightseeing or seeking out good fishing spots. The boats are incredibly stable, can carry more people than other types of powerboats of the same size and have a very shallow draft, something that’s handy given the many sandbars and shallow flats that abound in the area. Kayaks These lightweight watercraft bring nature up close and personal. If you want a workout you can get it paddling a kayak, but you can also move around leisurely without any strain. It’s easy to learn the basic paddling technique, and the little boats are much more stable than they look. I’ve even used kayaks as a fishing platform. They’re stealthy, and if you hook a nice fish you’ll get a free ride. Sailboats Whether it’s a leisurely cruise around the bay on a keelboat, or a screaming dash in a fast catamaran, sailboats are among the greenest ways to travel on water. Harnessing the wind to move through the water never fails to give sailors a thrill, even if they’re only moving five or six knots. The key rule to remember: you can’t sail directly into the wind. Jet Skis These motorbikes of the water are fast and highly maneuverable, providing plenty of thrills for users at all levels of proficiency. Some rental services offer guided tours aboard these personal watercraft, or you can set your own course. Just be aware that there are numerous “Go Slow” zones in the area. And because they’re so fast, you have to be thinking ahead all the time. Surfing and Skimming The normally placid waters of the Gulf don’t often produce the big swells that stoke traditional surfers, but there are other ways to surf here. Kite surfing or wind surfing – the difference is whether your sail is on the board or flying high in the air – can both be energetic undertakings if the breeze is up. No wind? Grab a skim board and go skittering through the shallows at water’s edge. A little later, after Jane got in a run along Clearwater’s justly famous beach, we headed south to the North Skyway Pier. This remnant of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge (along with its counterpart, the South Skyway Pier) is now a state park catering to fishermen. The beauty of it is that you can drive your car out onto the pier and park it next to where you want to fish. No lugging rods and reels and tackle boxes a couple of hundred yards from the parking lot out onto the pier. It looked like I had hit the pier at precisely the right time. I could see a big school of something – either Spanish mackerel or jack crevalle – tearing up bait fish a few hundred feet from the pier. So near, yet so far. Try as I might I couldn’t cast my lure quite that far. Had I packed heavier gear, I could have joined many of the other fishermen on the pier soaking a bait around the pilings. The pier juts out North Skyway Pier. www.VisitStPeteClearwater.com 61 http://www.VisitStPeteClearwater.com
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