Fred Howard Park — Attraction in Tarpon Springs

It was a great place to hang out for the day. Bring plenty to drink and to eat there is nowhere over there that sells stuff. There are bathrooms. You do have to pay for self parking it's $5 you can pay at the kiosk Center. There are several there in the parking lot and along the sides on the peninsula coming in. They have a kayak , water trike, paddle boat, different kinds of bicycles, and paddle board rental . They have a nice little area you can paddle around in you can go over to Sunset Beach and also over into the mangroves. Some of the pictures I posted are of us in the mangroves. I found the mangroves very exciting. It was very tight space shallow water and if you don't time it right you could get stuck in the mangroves because of the tide. As we were going through the mangroves I noticed all these little black spider looking things crawling all over the trees. No worries though they're Mangrove tree crabs. They are not harmful at all. It was a very amazing journey. There are little markers to tell you where your at. Then after that challenge to the mangroves we went over to Sunset Beach. What a BEAUTIFUL little private Island 4 the people that live there. Maybe one day I can live in a place like that. Then we travelled back and went around the little beach there. It was a little 4 Hour Cruise. We didn't see many fish although The water was crystal clear. The gulf is all so popular for sea shells we didn't see many of those either. One thing we notice where wind kites!!! It was a very windy day that we went and it was very fun to see those kite flyers. Every day has a different scene. Enjoy your day enjoy your scene I hope my information has ...

We started visiting this beach more than a dozen years ago to walk our daily 2 miles (from the beach side of the Causeway and back to the beach is 2 miles) after we got off work. We always had a cool breeze as we walked. When we finished, we’d get out whatever we packed for dinner, and sit on the beach, eating our meal and watching the sunset.

I don’t remember when the park system started charging $5 a day for the beach portion of Howard Park. But when they did, we stopped coming. We found other places to see the sunset that did not require a parking fee. It is a 20-30 minute drive home, and the other beaches we found were closer.

This morning I met a friend here, and she comes every Monday. Both of us are considering the annual park pass as it is less expensive than the daily $5 fee IF you plan on visiting at least twice a month. And it’s good for Sand Key Beach and Fort Desoto Park. The pass is also good for two cars.

Since the pass I paid for this morning was good until closing, Husband & I returned this evening (6/30/22) for the cool breezes & sunset. We both like this park for its soft, even sand, the clean restrooms, and plenty of parking. The parking fee is the worst part of the experience, and $5 is not that much to keep the area and...

Very nice park consisting of three distinct parts:

1. a wooded area on the mainland that has a couple miles of trails, very nice covered pavilions with tables (can be reserved ahead of time), decent restrooms, playground, and many open-aie benches/tables with very scenic views over the Gulf...plus FREE parking;

2. a causeway with paid parking ($5/day as of September 2018) that has decent fishing (I saw a lot of mullet, a few sheepshead, rays, and three blue crabs) and make for a good walk...it measured about 1.9mi from the corner of the mainland cause out to the island, circle the roundabout, and return;

3. and finally, a small island with a modest beach, but plenty of parking, some restrooms, and even a food truck that seemed to be a permanent feature (selling snow cones, hotdogs, drinks and more).

I only walked out there and drove around the parking lot, so I can't give a good judgment about the beach, but it looked decent. On the other hand, the portion on the mainland had scenic vistas onto the Gulf, lots of shade, and I can definitely recommend it. The only negative I have to say about the entire park is that there's no shelter along the causeway, which would be nice in the blazing summer sun. A few shelters with benches...