Clearwater Beach, Saint Petersburg and Sarasota, Florida - January 27 to February 13, 2014

I know, it has been a long time since we up-dated our blog. We apologize and hope people will not give up on following our adventure. We have had some trouble with the blog site and there have been many places without WiFi.

 Clearwater, Florida, continued:

There were more pelicans in Clearwater than we have seen anywhere else.  This was clearly because there were fishing boats that docked there and after returning with their catch they cleaned the fish and threw the remains into the water.  These birds aren't stupid, they know a good thing when they see it. 

Here they are, probably after a big, easy meal 

Very pretty bird, a Snowy Egret

There was a shuttle bus in Clearwater which we took sight-seeing.  We toured the Clearwater Bay aquarium where Winter lives.  This is the dolphin that was rescued as a baby and brought here. She later lost her tail as a result of the injuries incurred when she got caught in a fishing net. She is the dolphin that the movie "Dolphin Tale" was about.  They had just completed filming a sequel a few days before we got there. 

This is another dolphin at the aquarium.

This is winter with her prosthetic tail which she uses just for physical therapy. This helps her back and muscles remain as normal as possible.  The rest of the time she swims along minus a tail.

Winter without her prosthetic tail.


Me and my new best friend

On Friday, February 7th, we left Clearwater, headed for St. Petersburg. On the way we came into a bad, unexpected storm in Tampa Bay. The water was quite rough, with water over the bow even!  Fun!  (in a way)...

 

Rough going on Tampa Bay

Inch-n-Along docked at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina.

Sunrise at St. Petersburg.  Most of the time we are up before dawn.  We sit in the pilot house with our morning coffee and watch the sun come up.

We had a great time at a street fair in St Petersburg.

The best-dressed BBQ guys EVER!

Our friend, Captain Dave, came with us to the fair.  He had two Henna (temporary) tattoos done. One said Inch-n-along, the other Takes Two (the other boat he helped across the gulf).

At the fair, Dave with his "tattoos"

The next day we toured the Salvador Dali Museum.  It was awesome!

!

Mike enjoying the view from the Dali museum.

Interesting architecture at the Dali Museum

Adi's blog: 

Well... things have been going pretty good for me so far, except that I hear a lot of
"No! Adi! No!!!" Apparently this happens when I break a rule.  There are a lot of rules on Inch-n-Along...funny...I didn't make one of these rules, and I'm the Admiral ??!! :-(

They say unrolling and shredding toilet paper is against the rules.  I have tested this several times. Truth be told, this is one of my favorite things to do.  Eating paper is the other.  They have stopped the toilet paper " problem" by keeping it in a cupboard.  They claim this is inconvenient for them. 

Eating the end off a banana turns out to be against the rules, too. This, plus the fact I had to get on the kitchen counter to eat it, breaks yet another rule, the "no getting on the counter!" rule.

Apparently sleeping is NOT against the rules... (yeah!) This is me, sleeping.

Monday, February 10th, we left St. Petersburg, headed for Sarasota. 

 Crossing Tampa Bay was much easier this time:  good weather, calm water.

The Sunshine Bridge in Tampa Bay

Inch-n-Along docked at Marina Jacks, Sarasota

Happy after a great breakfast

with traveling buddies Jerald and Cherie

We contacted our friends Denny and Mary who had moved from Memphis to Sarasota 13 years ago.  It was great to see them again.  Both of them looked exactly the same!  We went out for dinner and walked around town.  It was great to get caught up with them again. 

Denny and Mary. They are very happy living in Sarasota.

Mary and me. 

Drinks and appetizers with Jerald and Cherie.  We called this dinner several times. 

Skyline at night

In Sarasota we toured the Ringling Brothers circus and art museum and the home of the Ringling family.  Actually, it was a mansion on Sarasota Bay.  The museum had a fantastic model of a 1920's circus in miniature.  This display took up an entire building and was amazingly detailed. 

The display starts with the arrival of the trains, filled with workers, performers, animals, and of course the big top tent.

This display of the tent where the circus workers ate was especially detailed, right down to the food and forks, and people eating and talking.  It looked so real, just very small. At each section there were photos of the actual circus and placards which gave many interesting facts, for example it required more than 1200 workers and performers to put on the show.  Imagine feeding all of them!

Tiny people arriving at the big top.


Extremely detailed three ring circus.

An actual calliope.

The grounds of the mansion, with Spanish Moss hanging from old oak trees.

There were also magnificent Banyan trees, with the branches growing all the way down to the ground.  

The Ringling family humble abode.

A simple study (ha!)


A cozy little living room.

Your typical ceiling.

A really beautiful patio.

A simple back staircase.

Back patio.  Not a BBQ in sight.

Well... this is the Ringling dock. Inch-n-Along has never tied up to anything like this!

This tour was well worth the time and money spent.  There was also the Ringling art museum and fantastic doesn't begin the describe it.  We have no pictures of the art, I think because they wouldn't allow photography.