Sarasota, Florida

Sculpture on the waterfront

Blossom is tucked into the Marina Jacks

Vector is hanging out on a mooring ball, center of the picture

Another fun west coast Florida city!  We had a great time over our three days in Sarasota visiting and exploring. The party started as soon as we arrived as we hosted happy hour on Blossom with Sean, Louise, their friends Ben & Karen (who were along for the ride down to Sarasota aboard Vector) and Martin’s family, Penny, Syd and Brenda. I’m sorry I didn’t get a picture from the evening, the night slipped by and I forgot!  After drinks and tours, we went to dinner with Penny, Syd and Brenda. Our last visit to Sarasota was last almost exactly a year ago last January when Martin’s Mum was here so we had a lot to catch up on! It was a lovely evening and we’re so happy that we were able to see everyone.

On Tuesday we went to the Ringling Museum. At first I was unsure about going because I really don’t like the “menagerie” aspect of circuses. The only circus I’ve been to is Cirque du Soleil for that reason. Several people recommended it however, so we decided to give it a try and we’re so happy that we did. It’s a large park that includes an art museum, a circus museum, the Ringling’s mansion (Ca’D’Zan), and education center, a theater and gardens.  It was an amazing history lesson and we learned more than I ever would have guessed about the circus. We rode our bikes up and spent 6 hours there – and only saw about 2/3 of the park. Highlights were the tour of the Ca’ D’ Zan Mansion and the “miniature” model circus which was mind-boggling. Again, I was really lame about taking pictures. I managed a few photos of a ceiling in the mansion because it looked like inspiration for an applique piece…

Gorgeous ceiling that could be adapted to a quilt pattern!

We enjoyed the evening out with Sean & Louise, having a drink at a Tiki Bar and eating out in town. There are as many restaurants here as St. Pete’s…so much to explore. Friday turned into a crazy day. We pumped out and explored routes in the morning. Sean had laid the groundwork for our trip south so we reviewed, confirmed and verified an area that looked hairy with SeaTow. (He said we should be fine as long as there wasn’t a strong northerly blowing water out of the waterway making it shallow.) We had a lot planned for the afternoon but filling prescriptions turned into a bit of a fiasco (can you say “new insurance carrier” and “no inventory of needed drug”) and required biking to two Walgreens to sort out. Once that was resolved we rode over to St. Armands Circle, which is a really nice shopping/dining area, for lunch and to replace my sunglasses (they’ve disappeared in the boat, I have no idea where). We had just enough time left to visit the Save Our Birds bird sanctuary. We had wanted to visit the Mote Aquarium and Research Center but we didn’t have time and since we’d toured them last January we opted for the birds.

This guy was rehabbed and returned to the wild but he keeps coming back hoping to steal some fish!

We learned that these guys from St. Pete’s aren’t cormorants but are Anhingas

The bird sanctuary was very interesting and pretty depressing. So many magnificent birds with so many horrible injuries. They return thousands of birds to the wild but I wonder how many they are forced to put down. They have an info sheet on why the captive birds are there. Cars, boats, fishing line, golf balls (!) and owners giving them up, are the most common. The incidents of nasty people harming them is horrifying – one poor Great Egret “lost an eye because it was spray painted pink…” Seriously? Well, I’m very grateful to those people who try to help the poor creatures who others have harmed.

We spent our final evening in Sarasota visiting with Syd & Brenda. We had a lovely evening at their condo and then went to a tasty dinner in town. We had such a great time with them and we’re really looking forward to coming back for a longer stay.

Martin, Syd & Brenda

Next stop: Cabbage Key

Boat Business:  With the exception of one of our depth finders thinking we were in 1,250 feet of water for a time, all seems well. We still need futzing with our autopilot parameters, they seem to have gone off a bit, but that’s an ongoing lesson.