Dee's Blogs: Clam Pass

While waiting for the van to get its finishing touches, I thought I'd give my blog a break and actually post about something else. Today I went to Clam Pass Park and Beach in Naples, FL. I was feeling antsy after staying put for two full days and I was feeling if I didn't drive my rental car, I was wasting money. I have been on the west coast of Florida between Port Charlotte and Naples for three weeks and I've barely seen the ocean. I saw bits of it in Port Charlotte just three blocks from my rented villa, saw only what I could see from Route 41 in Fort Myers, and only caught a glimpse of it Thursday night as we crossed the bridge over to Marco Island on our way to dinner; so today I decided to go to the beach.

Clam Pass has a boardwalk from the parking lot to the beach. There was a passel of people waiting for it and I thought, "What is wrong with these people? They can't take the quick walk over the boardwalk to the beach? They have to take a shuttle?" Well, it wasn't long before I was eating my words. I started down the boardwalk and I walked and walked and walked and walked. A couple of teenage girls were coming toward me chanting an inspirational cheer: "Come on, you can do it. Only six more minutes to go." And as they got closer: "I know you can do it. Keep it up. We have faith in you. Only seven more minutes to go." Six or seven minutes to go???? They weren't kidding.

Here are a couple of views from bridge that spans a finger of Outer Clam Bay. The first is looking up the river and the second is out toward the bay:

Here are the shuttles that take you back and forth between the parking lot and the beach:

Half a mile later, I finally found the beach and man, was it crowded:

This is the only beach I've seen that had a shelf of sand between the beach and the water. It dropped a good foot to foot and a half. Being soft, I hit the edge, it caved out from under my weight and I landed flat on my butt. I didn't care but my camera got covered in sand.