Lisa Browder

If you’re looking for a beachy, quaint spot to get an all-in-one sightseeing experience that includes white sand, tons of tourist shops, great seafood and lots of hotels for a weekend getaway, John’s Pass is the place.

John’s Pass came into existence in 1848 when a hurricane created the new waterway. It was named for the pirate John Levique, the first to explore it. The subsequent settlers created a turn-of-the-century fishing village that has something for everyone – tons of tourist shops, restaurants, parasailing, shelling and dolphin watching tours, and jet skiing. And let’s not forget Madeira Beach. The boardwalk has spectacular views of the pass and access to a spit of white sand if you’re feeling the urge to dip your toes in the water.

I parked at the end of the tourist shops and strolled the length, occasionally stopping in to see what trinkets were being sold. Around the corner from an ice cream place, I spied a spice store. Don’t pass it up.

The Spice & Tea Exchange has interesting spices, sugars, infused oils, salts, teas, peppers and chiles, and custom blends and seasonings. On their brochure, I counted over 120 custom blends and seasonings; 100+ spices; 33 peppers and chiles; over 70 teas; 30+ sugars; and about 30 salts. Lord, if you can’t find something in all that to make a delicious meal, I’d say you have a serious issue!

Needless to say, it smells wonderful. To top it off, they give you a custom-blend gift just for stopping in. Mine was a spice blend of garlic, tomato powder, lime frost sea salt (have no idea what that is but it sounds good), onion, salt, black pepper, olive oil, rosemary, basil, green and red bell peppers, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, aji amarillo pepper, coriander, cumin, oregano and thyme. As I’ve said before, I hate cooking so a convenient all-in-one seasoning is perfect and doesn’t overtax my pea brain with ways to make vegetables and pasta tasty.

I then headed up to the boardwalk and checked out the restaurants and water tours. It was a pretty hot, muggy day so I decided I could do without any more sun. I passed on the water tours – I mean, can you really see this 70-year-old on a jet ski? – and opted for a nice, reasonably priced fried shrimp basket ($10) at the Boardwalk Grill. I really wanted the grouper sandwich but the price was $18. I figured I could have a three-course meal for that (OK, three-course meal might be a stretch but you get the idea). I must say, the shrimp were delicious but, then again, I’m eating fresh seafood in a fishing village. They better be, right?

John’s Pass is a great place to plan for either a quick look around or a relaxing day and/or weekend. If you’re not into water sports or tourist shops, you’re left with lunch and maybe some time at Madeira Beach (which is practically across the street). If, however, you add in a dolphin tour and maybe a tea class at the spice shop (call ahead to arrange it), you could plan to stay overnight at any of the nearby hotels and catch what I’ll bet is a spectacular sunrise the next morning before departing.

For me, it was a nice day’s outing, I had fun and I’d recommend it.

• John’s Pass is on the Gulf near Treasure Island.
• Parking along the strip mall by the boardwalk cost me $6.45 for 2 hours.
• The Spice & Tea Exchange at John’s Pass is at 110 129th Ave. E. / 727-319-4000 / johnspass@spiceandtea.com