* There's the problem of what to count and what to leave out. Do you include islands and inlets? Rivers and canals? Lakes and ponds?

* If you measure the major boundaries between land and water in the area, Pinellas County has about 77 miles of shoreline, Hillsborough County has about 61 miles, and Pasco County has about 18 miles. But this almost certainly undercounts the miles a person traveling the shoreline would walk.

* At the request of The Tampa Tribune, scientists with the Hillsborough County stormwater management office used satellite and computer technology to measure the shoreline of the bays that border the county. A conservative estimate would be about 300 miles, they said. Include canals and islands, and their estimate grew to about 500 miles.

Tribune research by ANGIE DROBNIC HOLAN and MELANIE O'BANNON