MADEIRA BEACH, Florida – The Tampa Bay area can’t talk about tourism without talking about one of the top tourist attractions in Pinellas County and Florida, John’s Pass.

Located within walking distance of one of America’s top 10 best beaches, Madeira Beach, it has something for everyone.

You can go on a fishing or dolphin tour while visiting the shops and restaurants at Johns Pass Village.

After the pandemic closed stores last spring break, this spring break is preparing it for one of the best years ever.

Let’s start at the west end, just below John’s Pass Bridge, in Hubbard’s Marina. Hubbards Marina was established in 1928 and offers dolphin cruises and fishing trips. This shop is arguably the main attraction in John’s Pass.

But like everyone else, they closed their doors last year.

“This closure was the longest time our family business has closed in almost 100 years. Even WWII, even the oil spills, the red tides, the hurricanes, we were closed for some time, but we were never closed as long as we were closed for COVID, which was a little over 40 days, “said Capt. Dylan Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Marina.

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The entire spring holiday season is the busiest time of the year. Johns Pass Village businesses rely on this revenue to keep going during the slow times.

“It was a difficult reality, it was very stressful at first, but we were stuck together,” said Hubbard.

They reopened with limited capacity in May, not sure if anyone was interested in visiting at all, but people came.

“Every month from June through December we broke records in passenger numbers and the number of people who came into town, and we still limited the load on boats,” said Hubbard.

Most of the visitors last year were locals. People who come for day trips and stays, not your typical out-of-state traffic. It was a welcome site for companies in John’s Pass trying to regain some of what they had lost.

“We had a lot of Floridians inland coming to the beaches, which made a lot of sense. Many of the other states have been closed, not many travelers from out of state. That is why the Floridians took this opportunity to get to the beach and not be inundated by tourists. “Said Dustin O’Neal, owner of Sunshine Scenic Tours.

Dustin and his wife own Sunshine Scenic Tours and offer Dolphin Quest and pirate cruises.

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“There are a lot of boats, dolphin watching tours in the area, we go one step further, we actually offer an environmental educational tour. So when we get you out on the water we’ll teach you about the dolphin area, the history, the plants, the other animals, the birds, the fish, all of the wildlife, “said O’Neal.

They also have a resident dolphin expert who provides wildlife lessons to all visitors on the boat.

Dustin and his wife bought the business in June 2019, just after the busy spring break that year.

“Anyone who runs a business here knows that then we really make our money for the year, pretty much for the whole year, and then we looked forward to the spring break 2020 and unfortunately we were closed for 6 weeks,” said O. ‘Neal.

With more people flocking to Florida this year, they’re more confident than ever that they will make it.

“We are well on our way to have a record year without a doubt,” said O’Neal.

Hotels are fully booked and while the tourist season came a little later than normal, businesses are on the right track for a great year.

“Here we are in 2021 and we are having the best spring break many of these companies have seen in decades,” said O’Neal.

The opposite side of the pass is also uphill. A building that stood empty after the pandemic finally closed Gator’s Cafe is preparing to reopen its doors as a new restaurant.

They claim to have the “longest waterfront bar in the world” and now the local restaurant management company Beachside Hospitality Group in St. Pete is preparing to open its eleventh location, Crabby’s on the Pass.

“To say we had no problems in 2020 would be stupid to say, but because we have such a great team, we were able to opt out of three locations in 2020 while other restaurants are closing their doors for good, just like this location it was for gives us an opportunity to really revitalize, ”said Julia Cassino, Beachside Hospitality Group’s Marketing Director.

It’s an experience like nothing else that offers one of the best views in the Tampa Bay area. You will have live music, harbor service, and seafood with a twist. You can catch your own fish on one of the local fishing trips and then take it to Crabby’s on the Pass, clean it at the cleaning station and he will cook it for you.

“You can expect to see fresh grouper here, you can expect to see pork fish too. We are very proud to be one of the few locations in the region that sells barideye crabs,” said Cassino.

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Crabby’s on the Pass will open its doors to visitors in a few days, whether by boat or by car. Just one more business left here in the long run, hoping to make John’s Pass thrive. And they come in at a good time.

“I would say we’re so busy that I don’t think we can actually handle the number of people. We’re firmly booked, four days off, and we’ve got loads of bookings for all of our cruises in a couple of weeks that we’ve never seen since we owned the company, ”said O’Neal.

Companies are well on their way to one of the best years in history. As for the tourism industry in John’s Pass?

“It’s very healthy. You still have people a little suspicious of getting into a busy place, but I think there are a lot of people who don’t mind going outside and enjoying it in the open air, and even those who do worry a little about it. They wear their masks and stay further away from people. You could still come and enjoy John’s Pass, ”said Hubbard.

It looks pretty good.

It’s obvious why people are drawn to John’s Pass, and for those of us who live in Florida, last year we have a great reminder of why it is so great to call everyone else’s tourist destination home.