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Sarasota’s Farmer’s Market every Saturday morning.

I went to the Saturday Farmer’s Market. A wonderful selection of vendors.  A really good assortment of vendors without that commercial air to it.

Natural homemade candles, soaps and lotions.

Candles for sale!

Just so you know, I didn’t even sniff them.  I don’t want to know where else folks rub their candles.  I also figure that candles and a boat may not mix well.

Orchids for sale:  Nice display of beautiful flowers.

Orchids for Sale

Vegetables for sale:  A good selection of greens, zucchini, squash, and tomatoes.  Two plants that I have not seen before.   Rambutan?  Someone mentioned they had seen the proprietor cut one open.  According to http://www.rambutan.com, you open the fruit with a knife or your teeth depending upon which is more available.  The inner fruit is sweet from Southeast Asia.  Only $4.99/lb.  I didn’t touch one because they looked like the pods were spiny and brittle.  However, I have learned that the pods are soft.

Rambutan

The other vegetable I hadn’t seen before is Sorrel or rather the Sorrel blossom.

Sorrel

Sorrel can be brewed up into a tea.  Does it taste “red”?  Add rum?  Hmmmm…. a rummy red?!

I decided to look Sorrel up on my little computer.  The plant is really the “Roselle” a hibiscus plant from west Africa.  Oftentimes, this flowering plant can be confused with “hibiscus tea”.  I have purchased hibiscus flowers from an organic food store to make into a tea a long long time ago.  Eventually, the package got a tad old and I discarded it without actually making the tea.  Next time.  Especially, since the flowers in the package weren’t really red anymore.  Not like these beautiful pods.

I did buy several large tomatoes. I hoped they would be tasty. They were meaty and could have used more manure to enhance their taste. But that is my humble opinion after growing tomatoes for 4 years in my backyard.  A friend also mentioned that the taste may have been subtle due to the species I bought.  The sign said “Tomatoes”.  No other information given.  Large slicing tomatoes that we enjoyed eating nonetheless.

Artists – painters, crafters. Normal seaside type crafts…using shells. Painters with seaside landscape. Obviously targeting tourists who have never seen a seashell, boat, beach or palm tree.

I did see only 2 vendors actually selling food to eat.  Some kind of BBQ and hotdogs.  I assume the restaurants along the street prefer visitors to stop in.  There were plenty of chairs and tables for visitors to relax and enjoy their snacks, fruit, and to rub their candles all over their faces.  There was a guy selling seafood on ice but I always worry about how cold the seafood is kept.  I don’t buy any food sold from the side of an unmarked van, trunk of a car, back of a pickup truck nor from a pile of ice on a wooden cart.  Ok, maybe jerky but that is all.  Maybe citrus or an occasional watermelon.  Really….

At major intersections there were guitar players strumming for tips. Good crowd of people and their dogs.  Actually, more dogs than kids.  Good news is that I didn’t actually have to watch my step.  Very responsible humans to pick up after their dogs.

Downtown Sarasota is quite busy on the weekends.   The Farmer’s Market in the mornings usually prelude into some other activity in the afternoon. Sometimes it is an art show. Sometimes it is music. Lots of sound and color to enhance everyone’s senses.

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Went to the Farmer’s Market again this morning.  Still more dogs than kids.  More people now that the Winter Visitors are beginning to arrive.  I saw more food stands.  Baked goods, meat, that seafood guy, and guacamole maker.  Maybe they were there before but I missed them.  Or more vendors selling prepared food because there is more humans.  I was not tempted since I had a scrumptious breakfast at a local eatery.

Here is a nice fall display…

I saw several people walking with these.  Carnivorous plants!!  All you have to do is feed them insects.  These plants will eat mosquitos, “no-see-ums”, and other flying insects.  A little leaf misting and they are good.  Questions that immediately pop up in my mind:  What happens when you run out of insects?  Will these plants get SciFi large?  Large enough to eat a small dog or human?  I had to walk quickly away before I got carried away!

The only other question I have from today’s outing…. Porty Potty Labeling.  One labeled Men.  One labeled Women.  What is the middle one for??  Whomever has the need and can’t wait for a labeled door to open?

I should have peeked but I was afraid.  That SciFi thing…..

October 31, 2014 – Sarasota, FL – 63 – 91°F    Water temp 79°F       Sunny and Breezy

Sightseeing trip last weekend.  Had to visit Mote Marine laboratory & aquarium.  It is a small aquarium but totally delightful.  It was obvious to us they are actively researching all sorts of sea life.  Notice the jelly fish pictures with the laboratory setup behind the tank.  Lots of equipment to monitor temperature and water chemistry of many of the tanks .

There were a number of displays for sea life around the docks, in the rivers, marshes, and in the sea.  Well done.  The displays had good lighting so you could see the sea life.  There are a couple of interactive displays.  One being the hermit crab display.  With two fingers, you can gently caress the hermit crab.  They feel hard and bumpy.

Sea Turtles – This one, Montego, is mid life right now at about 37 yrs old.  Difficult to see but Montego’s shell was at least 4 feet long.  There were 2 in the tank but Shelley was asleep at the bottom.  We must have just missed feeding time.

I was lucky enough to overhear this question from a visitor.  “I imagine that by the time the turtle gets this large the meat is too tough to eat?” The Volunteer just said. “I really have no idea.”

A volunteer dedicated to preserving sea turtles is asked how flavorful the turtle is when cooked? She was aghast. I thought it was because the gentleman was hungry. It was approaching 5pm dinner hour after all. In many cultures around the world.   Location…location…location.

We found Nemo!

Sea horses –  Mote has a research and breeding program for these lovely creatures.  Many were bound tail to tail.  Were they having sex?  Mote is trying to breed them so it is possible.  No one would say so. Another adult mentioned that the sea horses just like to hang out together holding on to a branch.  Of course they do!

View from the top. Can you see the sea horse?

Just hanging out

Solitary

Dwarf Sea Horse – Another solitary sea horse.  A dwarf seahorse.  About 1/2 inch in size.  Mote Aquarium is researching these delicate little creatures as well.  It looked lonely.

They even had a few Leafy Sea Dragons. Can you see them?  I originally thought the tank was empty with just seagrass growing.  It wasn’t sea grass but Sea Dragons!  When I looked more carefully, I saw these unique creatures.

Manatee Research: there are 2 male manatees in the tank.  The display said these two fellows have volunteered to help humans study them.  I wonder how that happened.  One was asleep on a raised area away from visitors. Since manatees can fall asleep very quickly we weren’t sure if this one was awake or asleep.

Sleeping Manatee?

Are the eyes even open?

This little guy was just floating around in the tank.  Occasionally doing face plants on the observation window. We cringed as its snout got all squashed against the window but the animal just rolled away unaffected.  The Volunteer told us that each manatee gets fed 70 heads of restaurant quality romaine letter, carrots, and other vegetables a day.  Now that’s a salad!

Lobster? Two of them. Pretty big !  This is a picture of the smaller one.  Almost too big.  I wonder if the larger these guys are, are they tougher to eat.  Where is that man who asked about the turtles?  He might know.

Jelly fish. A tank with a bunch in them for their research and breeding program.  The jellyfish I saw in the marina had more color than the ones in the lab. Maybe there are tastier bits in the marina water to give them color.

Interesting Animals that caught my attention…

Ocellated FrogFish – lovely face

Hermit Crabs all in a row – they can make long chains clinging to one another. The big one is the female.

Every Aquarium has a shark tank!

Inside the shark tank were these huge silver fish. They didn’t look real to me since they were not moving. Almost as large as the sharks themselves.

Five-Toothed Sea Cucumber – I didn’t touch this one.

Time for dinner.  Wonder what we should eat.  Seafood??

October 9, 2014  Sarasota, FL  70 – 88°F Sunny Day!  Breezy and cool in the shade.

A wonderful day here in Sarasota.  A few moments to update you to our surroundings.  We are in DownTown Sarasota with bankers to the right of us, condos to the left.  Boats scattered in the Marina or in the mooring fields.  I think that big blue building in the center is a “Chase Bank”.  Almost blends in with the sky color.

Condos and Banks – side by side

Mooring Fields – see Paddler? 

A variety of birds.  The quirky little Green Heron that my pictures don’t depict well.  My picture?  What do you expect at night with a Phone Camera??

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_heron

Green Heron – dangling on a line at night 

These Green Heron look squat and round.  When they want to they extend their neck like all the other herons we normally see around marshlands and marina.  What I think is so funny about them is they will dangle on the boat lines, balancing themselves as the lines moves with the water, and then abruptly swoop down and get a small guppy.

We have been taking strolls at night and have seen another bird.  We only see this bird at night.  It is bigger and more robust than the little Green Heron.  But only at night.  I think they call it the “Night Heron”.  hahaha  Now it makes sense!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-crowned_night_heron

We have an assortment of egrets and white herons.

Egret – looking for breakfast this morning

Looking for lunch

Jelly fish riding the tide

I saw this jelly fish riding the tide into the marina this past week.  As I was ready to whip out my little phone, a woman came around the corner with a massive 15 inch lens on her new Nikon camera.  My little camera versus her big zoom camera…. hmmm does size really matter?!?!  She showed me her picture.  I put my lil’ phone camera back in my pocket.  Completely intimated…

Needle fish swarm… okay only 7

I am sure you have noticed that I have concentrated this posting on the creatures around us. Well there are a few humans. Just not many. We are surrounded by boats over 80 feet long and some as small as 28 ft. Most of the boats are un-occupied right at the moment.   Owners paying crew members to keep their boat ship-shape and ready to go at a moments notice.  There are “transients” (boats and their owners) that come for the weekend and move on. Owners that show up to have a glass of wine on their boats only on weekends. There are yachts owned by corporate folks that hire a captain when they have clients to take out on the water. Still a bit early in the season so many out-of-state owners haven’t arrived yet.  Many of these humans are just not that interesting.

The interesting humans live on those sail boats out in the mooring field.  No electricity unless they have wind or solar power to charge their batteries.  The boats are tethered to a ball that is anchored.  No running water unless they have a water maker aboard.  They come into the marina via dinghy or row boat.  Stay a while.  Get supplies and motor/row back to their boat.  Yes, it is cheaper to stay out there in the mooring field.  If you have your trusty recycled coffee container, you have an instant bailing equipment.  You don’t have to worry about anyone stealing it and you can always get another one, easily.

Coffee can bailing equipment

To end end this post, I show you a cloud formation….  looks like a shark to me?!!

Shark!

September 28, 2014.  73 – 88°F  Water temp 83°F  Sunny Sarasota, FL

A sunny day welcomed us into Sarasota, FL.

We are staying at Marina Jack.  Very nice marina in Downtown Sarasota.  We are not the smallest boat nor the largest boat at this marina.  We have neighbor boats that make our home look like a dingy.  Fascinating!!  These gargantuan boats have full time crews that wash their boat every morning.  EVERY morning!!  What else would the crew do if they are in port?  Make the boat ‘shine’ for the owner should they show up.  They don’t offer to come over to wash our boat, tho.  Darn it!

Being in the city makes it an easy 1/2 mile up the road to a Whole Foods.  On Saturdays there is a Farmer’s Market.  Guess where I will be that morning!

We are experiencing a different flavor of nature.  There is an osprey around since I hear it in the morning.   We have a quirky group of “green heron”.  Who knew?  Pictures don’t show the mute colors.  The bird looks more brown than “green” but it matches all the descriptions in my bird book.  It hunches its neck preferring to dangle over the water waiting for a minnow to swim by.  We counted 5 the other evening roaming the docks.  Finally seeing one dip its head down and catching a fish.  It was polite enough to rinse the minnow off before swallowing.

Little fellow with neck stretched out

Dangling over the water waiting

There are larger white herons that flutter around but these quirky little ones have captured my attention.  I don’t remember seeing these kinds of birds before.

We saw Pelicans around the bridges as we transited the ICW.  This fellow gave us the evil “eye”.

Pier fish.  We are just off the ICW so the fish are a bit different.  I understand a porpoise with a bent dorsal fin does come to visit from time to time.  I will keep an eye out.  We saw some thin iridescent blue fish today that we haven’t seen before.  Pictures didn’t come out. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe a “needlefish”.

A large dinner plate sized jelly fish said hello to us after we arrived. Had I known it wouldn’t be back, I would have captured it on film. Alas, we haven’t seen a large one since.  Probably a good thing.  I saw some small dollar sized ones today.  No, I didn’t dangle my toe over the swim platform to find out either.

We see these yellow striped fish nibbling on pilings.  Several of them, in fact.  I think they are a “pin fish”.   They are constantly nibbling.  The Asst Dock Master was telling us “if only I could train them to clean the bottom of the boats…I’d be rich!”

But these fish are not nibbling closer to land.   The piers are massed with crustaceans.   Is this tonight’s “Oysters Rockefeller”?

Barnacles or Dinner?

By the way.  An observation for those beer drinking friends of ours.  I cannot find MGD ( Miller Genuine Draft)  anywhere in the local grocery stores. Although, the restaurant here hosts a lovely “Sweet Water IPA” that I have enjoyed more than once.  😉

September 27, 2014  – a glorious morning to you all!!   73 – 88°F rain expected in the evening.

Leaving Burnt Store Marina

We left Burnt Store Marina, Punta Gorda, Fl heading north to new waters.  Captain Dana (Mermaid Charters ) was helping us move our boat from Punta Gorda to Sarasota.

Before we left, we saw a boat with a load of fishing-hopefuls.  The funniest thing is that the “guide” was throwing out bait fish into the marina to hopefully snaggle a “big-one”.  We figured by the time the big one ate all the bait fish, there was no need to feed on the hook.  Right?  Weirdest thing I have seen in a small while.  I mean…catch a fish with fish…in a marina where the Osprey are already guarding the waters?

How to fish in Florida.

You fishing hopefuls out there can tell me I am stupid and I don’t understand fish.  Which is very possible.  I just don’t see the logic.   Now, if we were trying to bait Jaws that is an entirely different story (in three sequels).

Did I mention that we had a send-off?  Our little manatee fella gave us that last hug and snuggle before we left.   Wayne said it raised her head, snorted, and disappeared under the boat as a final ‘goodbye’.

Manatee nuzzling the boat saying goodbye!

Leaving Burnt Store Marina we entered Charlotte Harbor leading us to the ICW – Intra Coastal Waterway – on our way north toward Sarasota.

Entering the ICW

Blue skies and warm wind.  Perfect day until we heard a flop.  Flop.  Flop.
“What is that?”  Did we forget to batten down a hatch?  Forget to close or secure a door? We have never batten’d down a thing before in our life so we weren’t sure what that even meant.
“No,” our Capt Dana said, “Look out the port window.  There may be Porpoise out there riding our wake!!”

Porpoise riding our wake

Another porpoise surfing our wake

“Indeed there were several”.  Apparently, if you are going fast enough, the porpoise enjoy playing in the wake.  How fast were we going?  A blistering…. 8 knots…. or around a dazzling 10 mph.  Simple joys!

Several bridges were too low for us to go under so we had to wait for their opening.  Swing Bridges that pivot in the middle and swing open so boaters too tall for the bridge and get through.  Then there are the draw bridge type where the bridge opens in the middle and we go through.  We think “Always Home” is just under 19 feet tall after doing a quick measure and even quicker math in our heads.  So we had a few bridges where the clearance was posted as 20- 21 feet.  What to do?  Send the woman out on the top and double check as we go under.  Of course!!

Of course we had room!!  I just don’t understand why folks don’t believe me when I count with all my fingers and toes….

That zzzzrrroooommm noise when going over a metal bridge is almost the same kind of sound when going “under” a metal bridge as cars zip overhead.

We stopped a bit less than half way to Sarasota.  Just so much excitement getting ready to leave Burnt Store moving our boat for the first time.  There were fenders to pull in, chart plotter to watch for water depth, channel markers to locate, and making sure we were far away from other boaters was just an exhausting day.  I was wondering how we were going to get on/off the boat.  At Burnt Store Marina I had shown previously the tides could dramatically affect getting on and off the boat.  We left that plastic staircase behind.  Hmmm…what will we do?

We will use the stairs that came with the boat, of course.  It was strapped to the bow rail of the boat and we had never actually tried to use it.  Let’s see how it will do??

Pretty slick! Stairs!

The stair mounts to the boat.  The wheels on the dock-end allow the stair to move with the boat movement as the water sloshes up and down with the tides.  7 steps with a handrail.

Fabulous!!