Originally shared on Instagram on December 11, 2025. Photography and story by Mark Middleton.
I’ve been going to Clearwater Beach since I was 14 years old, when my family moved from Michigan down to Tampa Bay. Back then, Clearwater Beach felt like a completely different world. I still remember watching the José Cuervo Pro Beach Volleyball tournaments in high school, cruising up and down the strip before the roundabouts and high-rises, before the big hotels and parking garages—back when the beach still had that raw, laid-back Florida charm.
Over the years, life and work have taken me all over the world, but Clearwater Beach has always been one of the constants. In my real estate career, I’ve had the privilege of selling homes along this stretch of sand—some of the most beautiful properties of my career—and yet every time I walk out onto this beach, I’m still transported back to those early days as a teenager discovering a new hometown.
I took this photo about 10 years ago…The beach was unusually quiet that night—one of the only times I’ve ever seen Pier 60 so still, other than during the pandemic when the police closed the shoreline and the sand sat empty for the first time in anyone’s memory.
This pier has been a gathering place for decades—home to sunset festivals, fishermen, musicians, families, tourists, and all of us locals who have grown up with its glow on the horizon. And yet, in this long-exposure shot, it becomes something softer, calmer… almost like the Clearwater Beach I first knew in the 80s and 90s.
Clearwater Beach has changed, but the sunset is the same. The Gulf is the same. And every time I’m out there, with the wild colors settling in and the light reflecting on the water, I’m reminded why I love calling Tampa Bay home.
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