St. Pete Beach rental? anyone been?

[megs4413]

Has anyone ever vacationed in this area? I've never been there. My Dh has a work conference nearby and we're thinking about making a vacation out of it. We would need a fairly large condo or home to rent. Any BTDT experience? TIA!

[WatchingThemGrow]

I used to live south of Tampa Bay. If you can get there cheaply and stay cheaply, it should be fun! We love the Florida Aquarium, the childrens museums in the area (Great Explorations and Glazer-new and fabulous), plus all the beachy stuff. Lowry park zoo in Tampa is wonderful, but we were there a few days after Christmas and learned that they no longer do the reciprocal zoo thing where you get in free. You have to pay half the admission price (for us was nearing $45), PLUS they added a bunch of pay rides, etc. that your kids drive you nuts about.

[wallawala]

I used to live there, but it was a while ago! The Grand Ceasar is nice, but expensive. It was a little older, but may have been fixed up since then. You can walk the beach for a few miles, and lots of beach bars on the way.

Feel free to PM if you have specific questions about places.

ETA: Fort Morgan is a nice state park near St Pete Beach. There was an submerged boat you could snorkle too that housed a giant grouper- too shy to catch if free diving down, but a fun quick (cheap) scuba experiance if you are certified. Some time in the spring the sandollars would be "hatching". If you shuffled your feet in the shallow surf (ankle to knee deep) you could find hundreds. It's be a killer memory for kids. St pete beach itself has quite a few stingrays in shallow water... definately shuffle your feet when walking in the water or you risk a poke! I only knew one person in 4 yrs thought that stepped on one and got hurt, and we were there 3-4days/week. I stepped on a few, but the swam off. Just FYI, but it would be safe with kids if you warned them to be careful.

[sntm]

I was born there (though it has been years since I've been back.) When I was there, there was a nearby swamp park where you could see alligators, Clearwater Beach, the Pier, and Busch Gardens was a reasonable drive away.