February 20, 2018 Tarpon Springs to Fort Myers, FL

We left Tarpon Springs on a bright sunny day.  Temps still cool but no jackets needed.  Yoohoo!  As we made our way to Gulfport, a small town on the ICW, just west of St. Petersburg we began to see evidence of the damage caused by hurricane Matthew.  It's heart breaking to see these once viable sailboats no more than sunken wrecks.

On a happier note, say like a happy meal, we past a McDonald's that you dock up near, order your meal and be back on the boat in no time.  Kinda like, a boat cruise through!

I just can't get over all the waterfowl and how close and unafraid they are of us humans.  This grey heron was just off the finger pier we were tied too.  Notice his is so comfortable, he is napping in the pic to the right.

This next pic is more for me and Ken.  We had several people recommend Mazzaro's Italian Market from my cousin Brenda to our Tarpon Springs harbor host, Herb.  We were sold and even took Uber for this one of kind combination deli, bakery, grocery store and café.  Oh my goodness, it was awesome.  So much to choose from and so little refrigerator space on Independence.  After walking around for an hour we got several Italian treats including cookies, ravioli, sauces, breads and sliced meats, and lunch too.  All was to die for but I have to say my favorite was the prosciutto, which is dry-cured ham.  I have had it many times over the years but I never had it sliced fresh and as thin.  It melted in my mouth.  This is a must stop second time around  (visiting Florida that is).

We said good bye to St. Pete and headed for Sarasota.  We crossed Tampa Bay and passed the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.  When Ken and I lived here a million years ago, this was double span of bridges.  A real site to see.  Tragically, the southbound span was struck by a freighter in 1980 that sent 1200' of the bridge along with vehicles in the waters below and 35 people were lost.  The remaining span was being used when we left the area.  Since then a new single cable-style 4 lane bridge has replaced it.  It's a beautiful bridge but unfortunately the morning was overcast and the ICW took us away from the bridge rather toward it.  In the background in pic below.

I will say that the highlight of the cruise to Sarasota were the dolphins.  I finally got some terrific pics of them.  They really enjoyed chasing Independence.  It was like she was a big fish to them, asking her to come out and play.  There are quite a few shots of them and I was so excited to get these pics, I had to post them all!!!!

We arrived in Sarasota late afternoon.  The harbor entrance was surrounded by city parks, lovely condominiums and breath-taking mega yachts.  We docked very near to these floating palaces and enjoyed rubber necking each time we walked past them but I will say they can't beat Independence.  She's at least paid for and doesn't need more than her crew of two or a million gallons of fuel to run her.

Our dock view of the Sarasota harbor and of course, more waterfowl, just chillin'.

We still had a day before Carson was to arrive (my cousin Brenda's son) so made like tourists and checked out the town.  Our travels took us to The Ringling, that started with 20 acres that John and Mable Ringling bought in 1911 as the site for their winter home, Ca' d'Zan.  Over the years gardens were added as well as museums, eventually encompassing on 66 acres.  One is dedicated to art and two to the circus.  I have not been a circus fan over the years but this was really a treat.  We started in the Tibbals Learning Center where Howard Tibbals over a period of 50 years, created a miniature 1/16 scale circus, called the Howard Circus, which covers 3800sf.  It is complete with everything from a rail station unpacking to the three ring big top, tents for performers both human and animal, the midway and so much more.  In all Tibbals creation includes over a million pieces including 1500 performers, 152 wagons, 7000 folding chairs, dishes and tableware to serve 900 people.  Ken and I were just mesmerized by it all.

The zoo on the Midway - Giraffes in center

The Big Top - High flying performers

The Big Top - amazed by the intricate detail of the roping of the tent

The grounds around the Big Top - practicing of the dancing horses and maintenance activities

The Rail Yard - Unloading of Mr. Howard's (actually John Ringling) Rolls Royce.

A blooming kapok tree on the grounds.  Notice branches a ground level.

The banyan trees reminded me of my childhood in Hawaii.  They are tall, majestic and a blast to climb.  They have air roots that grow from the branches to the ground, as well grow into other adjoining banyans.  These grow wild in Hawaii and all along the old Pali Highway on Oahu.  In the late afternoon and evening they were a bit frightening, and my dad would add to it by saying they had magical powers that would slow down car and eventually stop it so the air roots could come take us away.  It scared us so good....

Banyan Trees

Bayan Tree - on left an air root now rooted and on right notice all the air roots hanging for the branches

Ca' d'Zan - John and Mable's winter home is a Venetian Gothic style - very ornament

The next day Carson joined us for our cruise to Cape Coral.  It was great having company with us.  He got to see what it is like in the day in the life of cruising.  He was a great first mate and we would love to have him back anytime he can.

Carson and I roaming the waterfront of Sarasota.

Sunset at Coya Costa - Pelcian Bay where we anchored for the night 

Heading to Cayo Costa we saw what appeared to be a dolphin and her young calf

In the morning we headed out in Sparkler to explore an island.  We found lots of shells....drills, whelks, tulips and venus.  The water was warm and day sunny.

To the right are oysters with a small hermit crab in the middle.

No one but us to enjoy all nature had to offer.

We left this lovely and peaceful bay and headed to Cape Coral where we met up with family, my cousin Brenda and Aunt Teresa who came to pick up Carson.  We would have loved to have him stay longer but college classes were calling.  Thanks for joining us and come again anytime, Carson!

As we headed to Cape Coral we hit the furthest point south for this adventure.  Next time we will make to Key West and beyond!

While in Cape Coral, we rented a car, a Mustang (Yoohoo)!) and set out to see what the area had to offer, as well as doing some provisioning.  We found a great restaurant called Ford's Garage for lunch. It not only had great food but a unique working garage theme.  Our table was next to overhead garage door.  The napkins were oil rags wrapped in hose clamps.  There were antique ford cars up on lifts and the bathroom sinks were tires with gas pumps handles for faucets.  The most unique thing according to Ken as I did not see it, was the men's urinal which was a modified beer keg.

After a quick trip to Naples we headed to Fort Myers to visit the Edison and Ford winter estates.  We discovered that they were good friends and when the estate next to Edison's came up for sale, Ford bought it.  

Edison's home.  The royal palms line all along the front of his home with a view to the bay.

Edison owned a Ford car but never drove it.  This is not it but he had one like it.  This one is on the Ford estate.

The Ford estate has a Mysorie Fig tree that has the most interesting ground roots.  And the view to bay is beautiful.

With this, we put the west coast of Florida behind us and after a night in Fort Myers headed up the Caloosahatchee River to Lake Okeechobee.  And instead of lions, tigers and bears, we saw alligators, iguanas and crazy boaters.  More to come in our next post.

PS from Roofus:

Not much to report here.  Just napping, napping and napping.  Getting lots of hugs and kisses.  I will say though, the dolphins are not very high on my like list.  Just about the time I get snuggled in and drifting off to nappy land, my mom human is jumping up to take pictures of them.  I can understand one or two times but she is up constantly.  How many pics do you need, really?  I am much cuter and she doesn't even have to move to snap as many pics of me as she wants.  Can we get a little respect here for an old puppy?!!!!