Short answer: yes, but bites are rare.
Clearwater is in Pinellas County, and the International Shark Attack File counted 12 unprovoked attacks in the whole county from 1882 to 2013.
More recently, the county had one bite in 2023 and none in 2025.
Swim between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., when the lifeguards are on, and skip dawn and dusk.
I rewrote this page in October 2026.
The old version listed “three types of sharks” and then named four, gave a Guinness record for sunny days with no source, and sent you to meet “Zima, the star of the hit movie Dolphin Tale.”
That dolphin was Winter, and she died in 2021.
Which sharks are out there
Clearwater sits between the Gulf of Mexico to the west and Tampa Bay to the southeast.
A 2004 Bay Soundings article on Mote Marine Laboratory’s shark research put the bay at about a dozen species, including hammerheads, bonnetheads, nurse sharks, blacktips, lemon sharks and bull sharks.
Pinellas Point is a pupping ground for lemon sharks.
Of those, Mote’s shark research director called bulls “typically the only species we need to be concerned about in terms of serious attacks.”
Bonnetheads, the smallest hammerheads, even eat seagrass.
I covered the bay itself in are there lots of sharks in Tampa Bay.
How rare is a bite here?
Here’s the honest math, from the shark attack file’s own counts.
I find it more calming than any “don’t worry” line:
- Pinellas County, 1882 to 2013: 12 unprovoked attacks, two of them fatal. That’s 131 years.
- 2023: one bite in Pinellas. Florida had 16 that year, eight of them in Volusia County.
- 2025: none in Pinellas. Florida’s 11 were six in Volusia, two each in Broward and Lee, and one in Miami-Dade.
Most bites, the shark file says, are “test bites,” where a shark mistakes a person for prey.
Bites are most common between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. A local news report on the shark file’s numbers puts that down to more people being out at the beaches then.
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If you’ve booked a beach hotel here, this is the part that matters.
Clearwater Beach runs 2.5 miles along the Gulf and it’s open 24/7.
Lifeguards aren’t.
The city has them on duty seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with towers staffed depending on season and weather.
Tower 0 is the lifeguard headquarters, with 10 full-time and 20 part-time lifeguards.
So my rule is honestly pretty simple, and it’s the one I’d give a friend fresh off a layover: swim when the towers are staffed, and stay out at dawn and dusk.
I’m not worried about sharks at noon in front of a lifeguard, and neither should you be.
That’s also Mote’s advice for summer in the Tampa Bay area: the beaches are generally safe, but “don’t swim at dusk or dawn.”
The beach stays open after dark, but the lifeguards go home at 5 p.m. If a rip current or a cramp gets you in the dark, the line between a bad moment and a real emergency is whether someone sees you.
I’d keep it to wading.
Want the evening without the water?
Pier 60 runs its sunset celebration every night, from 2 hours before sunset to 2 hours after, with local artists and craftspeople, plus performers.
Check tonight’s sunset time before you go.
Dolphins are the easier find
If you came to see a big marine animal, aim for dolphins.
Boat tours off Clearwater Beach commonly spot them in the Gulf.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium, just up the causeway on Island Estates, rescues and rehabilitates sick and injured marine animals.
It was Winter’s home (the dolphin from Dolphin Tale), and Hope, found orphaned in the Indian River Lagoon in 2010, still lives there.
Nurse sharks are residents too, if you want to see one up close and dry.
Want to compare beaches?
See which Florida beach has the most shark attacks, and our Clearwater and Pinellas beaches hub for the rest of the coast.
