Field guide · · The Gulf Coast
The questions we are askedbefore a Gulf Coast stay
Straight answers on hurricane season, red tide, minimum stays, licensing and the local rules along Anna Maria, 30A, Clearwater and Madeira Beach.
The Journal
0105
The part of the weeknobody photographs.
[ strip, read, repair, reset. never reorder. ] 
[ send the note a week out. ten minutes, tops. ] 
[ one thread. every request. all week. ] 
[ your job becomes the statement and the calendar. ]
Where to go,and when it is true.
Field guide 01 · The Gulf Coast ·
The questions we are askedbefore a Gulf Coast stay
Straight answers on hurricane season, red tide, minimum stays, licensing and the local rules along Anna Maria, 30A, Clearwater and Madeira Beach.
More field guides
- 02
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island Travel Guide: When to Go and What to Expect
- 03
Scenic Highway 30A
Scenic Highway 30A Travel Guide: The Beach Towns and the Dune Lakes
- 04
The coast moves.These notes keep up.
Short, dated notes on what the gulf is doing right now. Replaced as the season turns.
5 dispatches · Newest first
Open The SeasonThe Gulf in September
The gulf's warmest water arrives after the crowds leave. On the strange, generous month at the end of the Florida summer, and how to take it seriously.
Scallop Season Opens Across the Bay
Bay scallop season opens along Florida's Big Bend in July: a mask, a mesh bag, seagrass shallows, and the closest thing the gulf has to an Easter hunt.
The Fourth on the Islands: Where to Watch, Where to Hide
Independence Day on the gulf beach towns: where the fireworks sit, how the traffic behaves, and how to watch it all from a folding chair on the sand.
Turtle Nights: The Coast After Dark, May to October
Sea turtle nesting season runs May through October on the gulf beaches: what the staked-off nests mean, why the lights go amber, and how to watch well.
Red Tide, Read Honestly
What red tide actually is, how patchy it really runs, where to check conditions before a gulf trip, and how an honest operator handles the bad weeks.
The house is readybefore you are.
The diary covers the coast we know best. For dates, a party, and what is actually open, the conversation is quicker than the reading.
Provisioning
The standing list
- proper coffee, and the cream that goes with it
- bread, butter, eggs, fruit
- olive oil · still and sparkling
- citrus, grown an hour inland
- what the boats landed, on ice
- whatever your note asks for by name
[ The note goes to the concierge a week out ]