On the move again

Poolside action

Poolside hotty

the pool at Vinoy

Chihuly Poppies

Chihuly Chandelier

Chihuly Sea Garden

We reluctantly left St Petersburg on March 4.  The weather had been nice and, as you can see by the pics, we were enjoying the facilities of the resort. The shops and restaurants were great. The days flew by, an endless summer that we don't want to end. We were daily serenaded by large green parakeets and met each morning by lovely blue sky and the sea of incredible green-blue, just like our daughter, Gretchen's eyes. Our last day, we finally got to the Chihuly Collection. It is so amazing, it makes your eyes ache. - My fav! Dali was O.K. too, Bob's pick.

Vinoy Marina, St Petersburg

Vinoy Park sculpture at sunrise

We moved just 28 miles down, anchoring out at Jewfish Key.  It's a lovely spot, with easy dinghy access to both a beach and a neat restaurant.  The down side was that the anchorage was adjacent to a sand bar that is exposed at low tide and is a favorite gathering spot for the 'young, restless, and over-stimulated' weekend crowd - of course, that just adds to the scenery.  We stayed 3 nights on the anchor;  we hadn't planned to stay the 3rd night but the TV reception was good and the last episode of Downton Abbey was playing - so, of course we had to stay.

Jewfish Wkend Scenery

Jewfish Wkend Scene

sunset at Jewfish Key

We then moved a whole 12 miles to Sarasota - get the picture - reluctantly moving south!  We opted for a mooring ball at the marina - and we were glad we did - we were away from the hubbub and the crowded slips.  Sarasota is a neat little town with very, very high end art galleries;  in one, the paintings started at $7,200 and went up to $95,000. The one I wanted was a mere $37,000. Oh well, it's fun to look!  We found a neat little Tiki bar (more our style) and hung there in the evenings.

Happy Tiki Hut Patrons, Sarasota

Then we moved on down - this time a respectable 42 miles - to Gasparilla.  We needed to do laundry and fill our water tank.  We'll stay here for 2 nights before going over to Cabbage Key, the inspiration for Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise".