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Go: Longboat Key, Florida

Shells at Longboat Key

Why should you consider traveling and staying in Longboat Key, Florida?

First, because it is beautiful. The entire key (or island, for you landlubbers) is long and narrow. It’s so narrow that it is easy to walk from bay to ocean without breaking a sweat. Okay, that is a stretch. If you’re there in warm weather – and when isn’t Florida warm in comparison to a Pennsylvania winter? – you’ll sweat. After living in Key West for two years, I can admit that it can get cold but it doesn’t get frigid.

Here are some of my favorite beach photographs from Longboat Key.

Longboat Key beach

Longboat Key beach

Longboat Key beach

Just look at that water.

Why else should you go to Longboat Key?

It’s quiet. There is no party atmosphere here. When I was younger, beach towns like Ocean City, MD, were fun. More fun than hitting the beach every day was heading to the boardwalk every night, all dolled up in my favorite outfit, sporting a fresh glow and checking out all the hotties. PS: I was most definitely not a DTF girl. And if you don’t know what that means, please don’t ask me to explain it to you. Just Google it.

I am so, so over that. Give me a beach where I can lay in privacy, not be bonked in the head with a football or have to shoo Scopes photographers away, where the only sand getting kicked on me is from my own kids and I can toss them in the ocean if they start getting annoying. Give me a restful night because there aren’t noisy bars 20 feet away in every direction. Give me turquoise water where I can see the fish swimming around the intruder (me) in their world. Give me … give me …

Give me Longboat Key.

Shells at Longboat Key

If you’re interested in seeing other photographs from our trip to Longboat Key (including the canal-front house we rented, the kids doing kid-like things, and food) feel free to check out the album I posted on Facebook.

I will vacation here again. It was a wonderful place to take the kids and not be bombarded with STUFF. There aren’t tacky t-shirt shops selling junk or chain fast food restaurants every block. In fact, there really wasn’t much of anything except residences and beach.

And I like that.

The Details:

Location: close to Bradenton and Sarasota. Closest airport is Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

Food: see here for my culinary experiences

Beach: see above for photos. There are parking areas all up and down Longboat Key for public beach access. We were there over Memorial Day weekend and while Bradenton Beach and while Coquina Beach and Bradenton Beach had people packed onto the sand like salty sardines, the public beach in Longboat was nearly empty. And beautiful.

Beware of rip currents in the ocean. There were no posted lifeguards that I saw and every single day we were there, a red flag warning was in effect. Look to the ocean. If you see a flat, calm section of sea in between normal waves rolling in, it can be an indicator of rip current. If you do get caught in one, don’t fight it to swim directly ashore. The sea won’t give up easily! Instead, swim perpendicular to the shoreline until you break free from the pull. The ocean is quite shallow going quite far out (that’s not in a groovy sorta way), but don’t let the lack of depth give you a false sense of security. Rip currents are strong and can sweep your legs out from under you even in shallow water.

 
Twitt