Friday, October 25, 2002
We headed back down the Anclote River and rejoined the Intercoastal. (Down
here it is just called the ICW.) Kay's parents had lived in the Clearwater
area for 25 years and she was looking forward to seeing familiar places from the
waterway. We stopped for lunch in The Pub in Indian Rocks Beach, not
because it is a great place to eat, but because it is directly across the water
from the pool belonging to the development where Kay's parents lived.
Further down past the Welch Causeway to Madeira Beach, she pointed out the pink
house used in the Cocoon movies. It's on the mainland side.
We also went past the pink Don Ce Sar Hotel in St. Pete Beach which was famous
during the Depression Years as a the most luxurious hotel in Florida. The
Yankee baseball team used the hotel as their winter quarters during the
1930s. It was used as a Veteran's Hospital during World War II and
remained the VA headquarters until 1969 when a new facility was built on the
mainland. The Don Ce Sar was refurbished and reopened in 
1973, and the
Pink Palace remains a landmark from water and land.
We had contacted some of the yacht clubs, looking for reciprocal docking, and we
found a nice place at Pass-A-Grille Yacht Club. It was founded a few years
after our Narrasketuck Yacht Club in Amityville. While it does not have
many slips -- 20 or 30 -- it does have friendly people and a nice bar and dining
room. We walked one block over to the Gulf and sat on the beach to watch
another beautiful sunset.
Saturday, October 26, 2002
While we were enjoying a late breakfast, we watched some Optimist sailboats
being launched from the Yacht Club. These 8 foot prams are usually used
for Junior Training, so we were interested when we realized that adults were
climbing into them. We were even more amazed when we realized that every
sailor was attired in a Halloween costume. It was the annual
Men-Against-the-Ladies Halloween Race. The women use the Optis to learn
and sharpen their sailing skills all year. The men are confined to their
big boats and are only allowed in the Optis for this race. It was fun to
watch, and Kay cheered the women as they beat the men in both races.
We had seen a Trolley pass by and learned that they ran from Pass-A-Grille on the
southern tip of this barrier island to the northern tip just south of Clearwater
Beach. We caught a southbound trolley ($1.50 for an all day senior pass)
and rode around the historic district of the town. Then we transferred
(free) to a bus that took us to St. Petersburg. We walked  
around The Pier
and had lunch on the 5th floor looking out over the harbor, the marina, and the
airport. We caught the pink Looper Trolley (yes, it's pink and no, it's no
relation to us Loopers) which took us around the sights of St. Petersburg for
fifty cents per senior. We enjoyed the sights and stopped at the Salvatore
Dali Museum for several hours. There was a guide to explain the paintings
and describe the transitions as Dali progressed from one stage to the
next. We eventually caught the trolley back to the St. Pete Beach,
transferred to the beach trolley and returned to Pass-A-Grille. It was a
long day.
Sunday, October 27, 2002
We headed back down the ICW, and as we were heading south along the causeway to
the Skyline Bridge, we passed a small cruiser very high and dry alongside
the channel. The markers here are standing along side very shallow water,
and there are signs warning of the danger. This poor guy and his bikini
clad girl friend must have been distracted enough to skim ten or more feet on to
the sand bar. There was a tow boat trying mightily to dislodge him and
producing nothing but black smoke from the tow's engine. We hope he
decided to wait for a higher tide. As we were approaching Anna Maria
Sound, who should we see ahead of us but Seaburds! We were both headed for
Marina Jack's in Sarasota where they assigned us adjacent slips.
  
We met Joyce and Tom Tyler, friends from Long Island who have recently moved
into a new house here in Sarasota. We spent a few hours at a craft fair
where Kay finally found the double magnets that go on screen doors to let people
know the screen is there before they walk through it. (She said she's
ready to market them to anyone who has had a similar problem.) Joyce and
Tom drove us out to their house -- the development is less than one year old,
but it looks like it has been there for several years. The landscaping has
been designed to eliminate that "just planted" look. The Tyler's
home is beautiful and spacious, and we're not just saying that because we've
been on a boat too long. We enjoyed dinner with them and are looking
forward to more visits -- not as close as when we lived up in Long Island, but
still close enough to have some good times again.
Monday, October 28, 2002
Sarasota has trolleys, too. We rode the Main Street Trolley which took us
through the shopping district which includes some of the historic
buildings. Back at the waterfront we transferred to the 
Scenic Loop
Trolley -- $2 buys an all day pass for both trolleys. The Scenic Loop goes
across John Ringling Boulevard to Lido Beach and some of the elegant shops
around St. Armands Circle. It passes by some very impressive homes,
including those on Bird Key. Bird Key used to be a collection of mangrove
islands on which the Ringling Brothers kept the elephants and other animals
during the winter. That way they could roam free on the islands and not be
confined in cages. I wonder if the people living in those very fancy homes
know that monkeys and elephants and giraffes preceded them? By the way,
when we called Bird Key Yacht Club and asked for reciprocal courtesy docking for
Past Commodore Baker from Narrasketuck Yacht Club in Amityville, New York, we
were first told, "Just a minute while we check our
reservations." We were then told, "We're closed for the next
several days." So may the monkeys and elephants re-descend upon them
for being so snooty!
 We rode the trolley up to the Ringling Museum. John and Mabel Ringling
built an ornate house in Sarasota and began to fill it with the wonderful pieces
of baroque art that they acquired on their trips to Europe. They built the
museum to showcase the fine paintings and other objects of art. When John
Ringling died he left more than 600 paintings, including the world's largest
private collection of works by Peter Paul Rubens to the State of Florida.
The estate is now affiliated with Florida State University and includes the
Museum, Ca d`Zan (their home), a Circus Museum, and the Asolo theatre (whose
19th century Baroque-style interior came from Venice). This association
with the University has provided excellent theatrical productions and gives the
students a place to practice their profession among professionals. We
spent so much time looking at the Rubens, Rembrandts, Titians and El Grecos,
and also at the
temporary Rodin exhibit, that we did not leave enough time to visit the
thirty-room mansion. Kay had visited it years ago with her mother, but we
were told that there have been extensive refurbishing, and the mansion now
appears as it was when Mabel and John lived there.
We returned to Kibon in time to have cocktails and dinner with Dick Pell.
Unfortunately, Helen was called away to help with her grandchildren. We
had a nice evening hearing about the repertory company that Dick is with -- he
opens on Friday in "Inherit the Wind." We look forward to seeing
both Helen and Dick once we get settled in Boynton Beach.
Tuesday, October 29, 2002
We bought diesel at Marina Jack -- $1.42 plus tax -- and asked for a pump out,
which was only $5. That's exactly what the kid did -- pump out the holding
tank. When Kay asked him why he didn't rinse and pump again, he said they
don't do that and inferred that their service is the custom. Kay told him
what the customary service has been for the past 3500 miles. An older guy
began to argue, saying that on his 50 foot boat (emphasized because we were only
a 38 foot boat) he only has a pump 
and wash when he's going to put the boat
away. We insisted that the tank be washed and re-pumped. Moral of
the story? Ask before you buy anything here at Marina Jack. We were
paying $1.75 a foot to dock because we needed to be close to town and didn't
think our company would handle riding a dinghy out to the moorings that are also
there in downtown Sarasota. We thought their service would all be special.
We cruised the ICW past Lido Beach, Siesta Key, Turtle Beach, Casey Key, and
Venice. It has some narrow places where we could see the birds standing
within a few feet of the channel. There are also some places where we had
to proceed slowly (little or no wake) through marked Manatee areas. These areas
are almost everywhere alongside the channel although we still haven't seen a
Manatee.  Maybe they are liked the Spotted Owls and just disappear into the
mangroves There are also two car ferries that cross from the mainland to the
beach. One is marked on the chart -- at mile 52 there's a cute ferry that
brings people to and from Manasota Beach. The other one isn't. It is
between markers R8 and G7 at approximately mile 38.5. We saw what looked
like a dredge coming out of a side channel. Suddenly it turned around and
chugged across the ICW. Obviously, he took precedence over the north-south
traffic! We continued through Lemon Bay to mile 36. Cape Haze is an
area of beautiful homes surrounding a protected bay. There is a canal that
leads north, but we anchored to the east of it in the middle of the bay.
We've seen some people around the homes, but no one has yet objected to our
being in their back yard. Pearce is happily fishing -- we had stopped to
buy him some fresh shrimp -- and he has caught a good sized catfish so far. By
sunset he had caught four catfish and a Wahoo. Steak was already in the plan, so
dinner turned out to be a delicious surf and turf treat.
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Cruisin' The Loop Aboard Kibon