High Dollar Territory

 
 
Yes we are now officially in over our heads. Jan says we are just going to have to use the kids inheritance and keep going. More detail on this later but first a look at our day.

 
 
The bright young man above is David. No he is not a street person in Sarasota; he is just relaxing on a couch put out for patrons of an upscale restaurant. I asked to take his picture and he obliged. I told him I would make him famous on the internet so there you have it. I think his parents, who were watching, were worried about this weirdo in a Panama hat who was taking their son’s picture and giving him a card telling him to go to our website. Jan quickly jumped in and said we were safe. Now how would they know that? I must be more careful about interacting with children without speaking to parents first. I told them I was a judge and Jan a former DA. We had a nice chat walking up the street.

This morning as we left The Club we found out that after paying that high dollar for the first night that the second night would be free. By then we were running and untying lines. I think Jan would have stayed but I was ready to keep going south because we had big water to cross on Tampa Bay and this was a decent day for it. Our Dockmaster Les said if we were ever back in the neighborhood the first night would be free. Fair enough, though it would probably cost around $10,000 to get back here again!

 
 
Les and me just before pulling off.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Just so all of my readers will know that running aground is not exclusively a Cbay thing, here are some boats aground that we passed just today. One has been there so long the birds have claimed the hull and the last one, Hilarium, ran aground in the middle of the Intracoastal at low tide this morning. She is a monster if you look at the 36 foot sailboat to her starboard. They were waitng on high tide to get loose. All day on the radio boats were calling to ask what she was doing. Just killing time. She was able to move shortly after this picture was taken. We had to practically scrape her side to get past in this narrow channel.

 
 
The pink palace in the distance is the noble Don Cesar, an icon on St. Pete Beach. It was a grand dame in the 1930’s but was turned into a military hospital during WWII and after the war fell into decay until it was rehabbed I think in the late 80’s or early 90’s. Now heads of state and royalty visit. My first visit there was with my family at around age 10 or 11. We could not afford to stay there but we walked around it.

 
 
This second pink palace in the far distance is Ca’ d’Zan, “The House of John”, on Sarasota Bay. I wanted to make a detour but it would have taken an extra hour in unknown water. It was the summer home of John Ringling North, one of the owners of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. We have toured it before and may do so again this trip. They have a spectacular art museum on the grounds as well aa a circus museum. 

At the top of this entry you will see the Sunshine Skyline Bridge on Tampa Bay. We ran parallel to it for a long time until we had to turn out toward the Gulf. Today there were 5 foot waves in the Gulf but wind was coming off the land and pushing water out of the Bay so we only had to contend with 2 footers on the port beam and stern which caused us to wallow some. Jan thought it was worse than our Gulf crossing but it was not. Then we were running 22mph on top of the waves and today we were running 8mph which allowed the boat to move around more. Now that we are in high dollar territory we have to save on fuel when we can.

 
 
 
 
As we approach Sarasota you can see it is a beautiful big money town. If only all our big cities could be like this.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Some shots around the marina. It is beautiful but at $281 for three nights, when we brought our own bed, it ought to be fantastic. Much more to show and tell but it is getting late and I am tired. But as I close just look who we found today.