2010 - 8/25 - 9/1 - Sarasota

We arrived at the Honda dealership on Sera Bay about 1pm on Wednesday, Aug. 25th. They took the dinghy inside and we tied up on the sea wall at the old Holiday Inn - restored and now called Harbor Vista - Their Tiki bar was open and, according to Jimmy Buffet, it was Five O‘Clock Somewhere. We dodged the deluge of rain, slip-sliding in the puddles to have a drink and hopefully a Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy again). The owner, Henry, opened the kitchen just for us… In the meantime, my friend, Joe, arrived at the cottage in Summerland to spend a month or so. He will try to get ON CALL (our 19' fishing boat)working once again after she’s been sitting on the trailer for over two years! The dealer at Sara Bay was unable to find any problems with the outboard and since they were the ones who put in the new thermostat and filled the oil - probably over filled it, they didn’t charge us this time. Good thing too because I was pretty pissed at this point after them “fixing” it two times already! We left about 1ish on 26th down the ICW to Sarasota. This is Ca d’Zan, John and Mable Ringling’s home.  I took the picture through the binoculars. We toured the Ringling museum in 2002 & was great fun. Sarasota skyline and Marina Jack’s Marina, restaurants and Piano bar. We cruised around the marina before setting the anchor and saw a boat that Wayne swears was CHARTWELL, a 55 ft. trawler he signed onto in Lauderdale to help deliver it to China. They went across the Panama Canal but only made  
it to California. From there, Wayne took a train, cross country, back to Lauderdale. Name and owner changed but same boat - note the unusual dry stack.

We stayed aboard until 4 pm Friday, Aug. 27th when Tom and Sue (Remedy) met us at the Tiki Bar in the park. From there, they took us to St. Armand’s Circle - a huge circle of shops. Very well kept and unique. We ate at a Cuban restaurant called Columbia, and one of their favorite restaurants. They made
Sangria at the table. Excellent!

The Tropics were really busy this month with lots of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes whirling around in The Atlantic; 8/2 TS Colin - traveled north south of Bermuda then headed East; 8/24, Danielle changed to a Hurricane but no landfall; then came Earl. Turned into a Cat 4 headed for mid-eastern USA-actually right for David in the Outer Banks. Thankfully, it diminished a bit and slid past them to the East; 8/31, TS Fiona didn’t last long -no threat. I did ho-hum stuff like defrosting the freezer, polishing the teak inside - and people always ask us, “just what DO you do all day long on a boat?” We happened to be at the Tiki bar (again) and met a girl named Shana, single mom of Cameron, 12 into astronomy and Caleb,11, loves to fish. She offered us money if we would take the boys out on the boat for the experience. How about tomorrow, 10:30am ?? Week of August 29th They were right on time. We did a touch and go at the Tiki’s tiny dock and proceeded into Sarasota Bay. No luck trolling in the bay so we went out Longboat Pass into the Gulf. Skunked ! Nothing, nada…again!. But we all had fun. I forgot what it was like to have kids aboard - YIKES! Apparently, Cameron has ADD-Shana gave him a pill, he slept like a baby. We stopped at a
                     Caleb, Shana & Cameron
beach but as luck would have it, it started to rain and hard…who cares, we’re wet anyway. We didn’t take her money. Great kids. All in all it was a fulfilling day for Wayne and I - maybe a bit selfish on our part, I don’t know. Intermittent rain on Monday, Aug 30th - have no idea what we did. We took the girls for a walk in the park on Tuesday, Aug 31st. what a wonderful place for people of all ages.

This is a bronze statue called “future Olympians” - this is a close up of one of the ‘kids‘. It was blistering hot so Wayne just HAD to take the girls

in the kiddie fountains. Wednesday, Sept. 1st (Remedy) Tom brought his friend,Tim,to check out the wiring we had for sale. He bought $64 worth - nice little pocket change. We spent most of the day cleaning up and stowing ‘stuff’ as we planned to leave in the morning. Wayne helped me dress for the night silver necklace bought in Mexico as a wedding 

gift & blue shoes to match- had to have the hat of course. I was happy to be able to wear this dress again. We met Tom and Susan at Marina Jack’s patio bar. After a few drinks, we adjourned to the Deep Six Lounge and piano bar where Rock Lee

entertained us for hours. He reminded us so much of Coffee Butler who played piano at a great restaurant on the Boulevard in Key West. It’s been since demolished and now a Homeland Security - UGLY building…shame. I even got to Jitterbug with a guy at the bar. Our last fling for awhile - we’re gonna miss everyone.