Sarasota to Fort Meyers Beach

Sarasota
The anchorage at Sarasota was very nice.  It was a short dingy ride to the beach, and the Tiki bar, O'leary's, allowed boaters to use their beach and dock, provided you made a purchase.  We got into a routine of dingying in, having a cup of coffee in the morning.  There was a large park surrounding the marina, Marina Jacks.  I must admit, I developed some boat envy.  There are some beautiful boats there.   There is a very nice downtown area, more art shops than I have seen since we were in Venice, Italy.  A nice Whole Foods where we got a few things, kinda expensive, but high quality.

The second day we went to the Ringling Museum, I had been there as a child, but it was a very different experince.  The girls loved the miniature circus, which was an enormous model with about 2" figures of every concievable detail of the traveling show.  It took up at least 4,000 square feet. 

The gardens were beautiful, and we saw banyon trees with roots growing down from the branches.  Most people know these kinds of trees from the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse at Disney, which is constructed from this image. 

John Ringlings house overlooks Sarasota Bay (where we passed the day before).  It was unbelievable, it was the envy of everyone in the day.  He donated it in death to the city, along with his art collection.  The circus was the entrertaiment of the day, about 15,000 people traveling from one destination to another by train.  The charge was a dollar, which meant he grossed about $25,000 a day, or $9 million a year, Not bad in the early 1900's. 

He ammassed a huge collection of primarily 17th century European art, and most of the works were more vibrant that what we saw when we lived in Europe.  There was also a large exibit of tapestries on loan from an Italian museum, and we got a detailed explaination of Reamus and Romulos, whose story was woven into the works, no pictures.

After we got back to the boat, we put on one of our favorate CD's, Natalie Cole, doing remakes of songs her father, Nat King Cole sang.  We got a glass of wine and began to wind down.  She got to a line I had not paid much attention to before in Paper Moon.  "It's a Barnum & Bailey world, just a phony as it can be".  It may have been phony, but he did well by it. 

Venice
There was a front coming through the day we wanted to leave, but we were going to be in the ditch all day, so we did not think it would be an issue.  We weighed anchor, well almost, and the hose from the washdown pump knocked the chain off the windlass at the same time the wind picked up to about 35 knots, so we were not anchored, and not freed.  Michelle took the wheel, and I hoisted the anchor manually.  We could not be even in the intercoastal with these winds without an anchor.  We head for $2.25/foot/night, Marina Jack, and tied up.  Just one little scratch from the 35 knot cross winds. 
Venice (really this time)

We left in the morning from Marina Jacks, and headed to Venice.  It was a very nice trip.  The bridge tenders are significantly better here than what we had been dealing with.  They answer on the radio, and give clear, good instruction.  We had dolphins swimming so close to the boat we had to lean over the rail to see them.  We tied up at the Crows nest, and walked to the beach.  Our cruising guide said there were sharks teeth on the beach here, but we did not see them.  Edisto Beach, South Carolina its not.  The girls had cable again, so we told them we were going to the pub for a drink.  They had two guitarists playing who were really good, and we struck up a conversation with some of the locals.  They insisted on buying us some key lime pie, which was excellent.  We had a very enjoyable evening.

To Pelican Bay (Not really)
We headed out with Second Wind, to Pelican Bay.  We had some leftover seas to contend with, but it was a good day sailing.  We went through the pass, and entered Pelican Bay.   We got pretty deep into the bay before we hit ground, I managed to get the boat turned around and tried to retrace my steps, but I must have been perfect on the way in, and I could not find that water again.  I decided to employ full horse power prior to using the unlimited tow feature of my Boat US membership, it was enough to get us out of there.   We left Second Wind behind.

Plan B, was Cabbage Key, a small island which a couple of slips,  They lied about the approach depths, so we bumped along to the slip, but with low tide in the morning, we were not going anywhere early.  They had a nice hiking trail and a little pub that doubled as the dockmasters office.  About $50k in one dollar bills on the walls.

They had a sign prohibiting almost everything but spending money. No Pets, No unfolding of T shirts unless you are buying it, No refunds, No trash, No etc.  There was one I could agree with in principal.

 St. James City
We set out for a short trip at about noon to St. James City.  The trip was uneventful, and there was tons of room in deep water to anchor.  With three boats in a two mile stretch, one of the local power boats made it very clear they did not want us there, by passing all three boats including ours within about 5 feet throwing a huge wake.  Apparenty this gentelmen felt that he owns that patch of water.  I was prepared for another pass with a jug of sour milk, but he did not come back.  There were a lot of dolphins all around, even at night you could hear them breathing and splashing about. 
Staying put (Not Really)

The plan was to stay put for a day or two and wait for a cold front to blow through, we had a significant debate about going on to Marco Island.  There was no wind, and it was only about 36 miles.  We decide to go, we could always stop at Fort Meyers beach which is what we decide to do.  We got assigned a mooring inside the harbor, and went for a nice walk downtown.  The current here is even more than the Riglots, so I am glad we have a mooring rather than anchoring.  When the front passes, we will be heading to Marco Island, the Little Snake River, and then Marathon for the holidays.