“We celebrate our nation’s freedom and honor the men and women dedicated to preserving it…” – Adam and Christy
So here we are, celebrating ANOTHER birthday, the birth of our great nation! This year Christy and I invited several friends and family to join us at Searenity Sands to usher in the 4th, with lots of BBQ (I pulled out the famous smoker ahead of time and cooked up some amazing smoked Brisket, Pulled Pork, Chicken and Sausage for our guests) There was lots of coleslaw and potato salad to add to the mix, and I made a spiked watermelon with a tap to take down to the beach with us. Boy was it hot out, but the cool drinks were flowing and we pitched a tent to keep some shade on everything! We spent the day between the beach hanging out in a big circle of beach chairs, kids playing football, and riding the boogie boards all day, to soaking in the pool to cool off! It was also great to see the Indian Rocks community all out and about once again. It seems that Covid-19 has taken a back seat and people are getting back to normal life once again. Lots of 4th of July celebrations happening up and down Gulf Blvd. We especially enjoyed the sanctioned fireworks displays all over the beach towns up and down the coast. We literally could see fireworks shows from Clearwater all the way to Redington Beach. As the sky lit up with fireworks, we’re reminded of how blessed we are to live in a country where freedom is protected by many men and women and are reminded of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice serving as ambassadors of preserving peace and freedom around the world and at home. I feel in my heart for the many families that have lost service members who are celebrating this day without their loved ones, and at the same time I feel blessed to be sharing in freedom this amazing beach with our own. Please take a moment to thank your military and first responders, they deserve it for all they do so that we can enjoy our freedoms.
As we wrapped up the 4th celebrations Christy and I had some time to enjoy the property with a week off of work – and of course, we were greeted by Hurricane Elsa! It was a good thing that we were there, as we had to make many preparations to the condo in order to remove items from the patio and away from windows, and of course lock down everything we could. While we contemplated riding out the storm, as the hurricane path steered closer to Tampa Bay, we both decided to retreat to our inland home and make preparations there as well. We enjoyed the safety and comfort of our home enjoyed time with the kids watching movies all night. We rode out the storm in peaceful sleep as most of the storm avoided a direct hit to our area and moved north. Once the storm passed, we we were able to return to the island to assess the damages. To our delight there was not a lot of damage on the island at all. A few downed trees here and there, but the condo did not lose power, and the storm surge only reached as high as the dunes. The saddest part was that many of the protected turtle nests were washed away with the surge. As we reflected on the storm, we counted our blessings once again and were glad that the area and the property did not sustain any major damage.
In closing there have been reports of red tide sporadically up and down the beach. On this trip we did notice a slight hint of it, and small amounts of dead fish were present. The county has done an amazing job of cleaning the beaches of fish and the peppery smell was very light. We’re prayerful that this will subside for good soon as the summer months continue. Not sure how much of this was due to the hurricane as well.
Please note, we also learned this week that the long awaited and larger new pool at the property will begin construction in September just after Labor Day weekend with planned completion in November! We’ll keep you posted on the progress as we learn more!
Searenity Sands Indian Rocks Beach Rental 