In 1527, Spanish explorer Panfilo de Narvaez set off with a fleet of four galleons in search of that coveted New World treasure— gold. His plans failed. A hurricane blew his ships off course to a landing on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

In the village, so the story goes, de Narvaez spotted a glittering gold ornament and thought he had found every early explorer’s dream. But, that treasure turned out to be Spain’s very own doubloons, salvaged by native tribes who had plucked them from shipwrecks!

More explorers came seeking treasure. The pirates Black Caesar, José Gaspar and Jean Lafitte left a legacy, literally and figuratively. They are remembered fondly—even honored—today at the region’s annual Gasparilla Festival, a party that features a pirate invasion in full costume.

When fishing fleets arrived to take advantage of the fish-rich waters of Tampa Bay, another industry developed. Fish remains a mainstay of the region’s economy and the backbone of the area’s restaurants.

As commerce grew, the addition of miles-long causeways and bridges connected the string of islands with the mainland. The Skyway Bridge, a series of connectors that stretches 14 miles across glittering Tampa Bay, is now a tourist attraction in its own right.

Eventually, contemporary buccaneers began promoting the Tampa region as prime real estate. During the 1920s boom years, promoters followed in the tracks of entrepreneur and railroad magnate Henry Plant. Plant brought a railroad line from cold northern climes to the sunny South and engendered a legendary rivalry with his entrepreneurial counterpart, Henry Flagler, who also built a railroad on the Florida peninsula’s Atlantic coastline.

Plunking down what was then the staggering sum of $3 million dollars, Plant opened the massive Tampa Bay Hotel in 1891 at the water’s edge, topping it with glittering silver minarets and trimming its verandas with Moorish woodwork. Visible for miles around, the beloved Tampa Bay Hotel remains the city’s landmark. A magnificent structure, it once boasted corridors so wide the hotel’s indolent wealthy could hire a rickshaw to trot them off to their rooms. To get upstairs, they rode a hand-carved, wood elevator powered by hydraulic force, the only one of its kind in the world.  Here, the famous and the infamous strode the wide verandas— Teddy Roosevelt, Babe Ruth, Clara Barton, William Jennings Bryan.

Plant went on to build another hotel, the imposing Belleview Biltmore, which is still operating today. Soon these two hostelries were joined by the bubble-gum pink Don Cesar Hotel, flagship of the coastal island hotels and possessor of a notable guest list that includes F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda.

As time passed, Scots settlers moved into nearby Dunedin, which, nearly 150 years later, still toasts its Gaelic connections with an annual highland games festival that features such entertaining competitions as the log throw and a performance of the military Tattoo and Retreat ceremony.

Scots were not the only foreigners to find their way to Florida’s tranquil Tampa Bay coastline. Generations ago, Greek sponge fishermen settled into Tarpon Springs; you can still buy a straight-from- the-sea sponge here, and chat with folks whose heritage has long been tied to the glittering waters of Tampa Bay. None of that heritage has been forgotten, either. Bouzoukis still strum at tavernas in Tarpon Springs, and it is said that many a platter is smashed at local pubs when the dancing goes derverish in the wee hours. At Easter, the community celebrates the Ephiphany by tossing a cross into the sea—divers plunge in after it, and the winner is guaranteed a year of good fortune.

Meanwhile, serene St. Petersburg was taking its own tack. Here, history was made in the halcyon days at the turn of the century before Prohibition and the bust in the boom. In 1885, an American Medical Association report dubbed the city a healthy place to live; dozens of green benches were scattered about town to provide respite to sun-seeking, elderly tourists. The city’s newspaper, the Evening Sun, was once distributed free on any day that the sun did not shine. In 76 years, readers got their paper free just 295 times, or an average of four times a year! The city also made the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest consecutive run of sunny days—768—stretching from the February, 1967 to March, 1969.

In 1889, the Orange Belt Railway built the St. Petersburg Municipal Pier and added an ornate bathing pavilion and a toboggan slide into the sea. A horse-drawn flatcar carried passengers from the docks two miles away, and a jitney service shuttled them down the mile-long strip of concrete. Smack dab in the middle of town, that slab of concrete is today called simply The Pier, and it is no less unusual than it was in those early days—in the middle of it all is an upside-down pyramid!

In ensuing years, the city has tried hard to dispel its retirement community image—St. Petersburg Beach boasts discos that rock until dawn. The city still remains popular with an older crowd; there is a softball team open only to players age 70 and up, as well as the largest shuffleboard club in the world. So beloved is shuffleboard here that the city is home to the National Shuffleboard Hall of Fame!

Today’s St. Petersburg remains a lovely place, filled with serenely beautiful old homes, manicured lawns, two miles of shoreline, 2,000 acres of recreation area and a plethora of parks so pretty you’ll wonder if city gardeners measure the grass blades. The flagship of the city’s hotels is the postcard-perfect Renaissance Vinoy Hotel, restored to its flapper-era splendor and, after some dark days, once again one of the most spectacular antique hotels in Florida.

With a regional population now topping 2.5 million, Tampa Bay opened the sleek waterfront Tampa Convention Center in 1990, the Florida Aquarium in 1995 and a 20,000-seat Ice Palace Arena a year later. Soon, a downtown development will connect downtown Tampa to Ybor City with the 230,000-square-foot Channelside at Garrison Seaport Center, an entertainment complex of theaters, restaurants and retail shops. Meanwhile, Holland America Lines and Carnival Cruises dock and depart regularly from the nation’s 11^th largest docking area.

Tampa Bay has long been a welcome sight for explorers, promoters and sun-seekers, a water-locked land blessed in abundance with sunlight and sand.