Walking Snell Isle: Bayou Paths, Manatees and Dining at the Vinoy

What does dining look like in a neighborhood without its own restaurant?

On Snell Isle, dining is part of a broader pattern of daily life shaped by nearby destinations. Outings may include the bridge, the bayou path, and the Vinoy, while dining options within walking distance are limited.

Snell Isle's Residential Character

C. Perry Snell built this place as a residential experiment in the 1920s, a muddy mangrove outcrop reshaped into an address. Nearly a century later, the plan held. Snell Isle remains primarily residential. No corner market, no coffee shop, no strip of storefronts along Snell Isle Boulevard. The Vinoy Resort has limited retail.

The isle's residential character shapes where residents go for errands, walks, and dining, including nearby destinations beyond its boundaries.

Parks and Paths Along the Bayou

Start at Coffee Pot Park, on the mainland side of the bayou, and you're already off Snell Isle. The park has a playground, a picnic shelter, and a boat and kayak ramp, all sitting on city parkland rather than isle property. From there, a wide sidewalk runs roughly two miles along the water, connecting Coffee Pot Park to North Shore Park before curving past the Snell Isle Bridge and into Vinoy Park.

Walk the loop far enough and you'll pick up Crisp Park too, a few blocks over, with its own boat ramp, fishing pier, and tennis courts, plus Flora Wylie Park nearby for anyone who just wants a quiet patch of green. These parks and paths offer nearby outdoor destinations for Snell Isle residents.

Cross the bridge and the path opens into Vinoy Park, then the Gizella Kopsick Palm and Cycad Arboretum, a stretch that turns a routine walk into something closer to a tour through a botanical collection before it ever gets close to the resort itself.

The Corner Where the Manatees Actually Stop

Ask anyone who's walked this path for a few winters where to look for manatees and they'll send you to one specific corner: Coffee Pot Boulevard and 23rd Avenue NE. The reason isn't just warmth. It's fresh water. That's where a storm drain carries fresh water down from Crescent Lake into the bayou's saline water, and manatees come there specifically to drink, not just to escape the cold.

The bayou itself is a no-wake zone, and Sunset Cove, the sheltered inlet inside it, functions as a nursery area where mothers keep young calves through the winter before the spring courtship season begins. Anyone paddling or boating through is asked to stay roughly 50 yards back, per Florida Fish and Wildlife guidance, since the animals are curious enough to approach on their own.

A few things worth knowing before the season picks up:

• Sightings run heaviest in the cooler months, typically peaking in January and February, when colder Gulf water pushes manatees toward the bayou's shallower warmth.
• The reliable spot is the Coffee Pot Boulevard and 23rd Avenue NE corner, not the bayou generally.
• Coffee Pot Bayou stays a no-wake zone year-round, and Sunset Cove is treated as a nursery area, so kayaks and paddleboards should keep their distance from anything that looks like a mother and calf.
• The same stretch also draws Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and the occasional dolphin, so it's worth walking slowly even on days when the manatees don't show.

Dining at the Vinoy

Marchand's Bar & Grill, the resort's longtime restaurant, closed in 2020.

That changed on May 20, 2025, when Elliott Aster opened in the same space, a collaboration between Chicago's Boka Restaurant Group and Chef Lee Wolen, a James Beard semifinalist known for his Michelin-starred work at Alla Vita. The restaurant has since been recognized as a Michelin Recommended restaurant, a fairly quick turn for a space that sat empty for five years.

Parasol, the resort's poolside spot, runs on its own seasonal schedule and closed for its summer turnaround from July 6 through August 31 this year, with guests directed to Paul's Landing in the meantime. It's back open now, which means the walk that ends at the Vinoy has its full range of options again heading into the cooler months, right as the manatees start showing up at the corner two miles back.

That's part of the rhythm here. The route connects Snell Isle with nearby parks and the Vinoy. In cooler months, manatees add another point of interest along the bayou.

If you're weighing what it means to live on Snell Isle, with nearby dining, walking paths, and seasonal manatee viewing in the surrounding area, Homes by Nanette knows this stretch of St. Petersburg block by block. Let's Connect.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.