Mañana on the Loop: ST. PETES TO SARASOTA

Jan 26- We woke to a sunny day but unfortunately Sid and Evelyn are leaving this morning. We helped them leave the dock and then decided to see some of the downtown area so we rode our bikes through the waterfront and then downtown. We treated ourselves to some Kilwins ice cream then headed back to the boats as Charlie and Bonnie were going to a friend's home for dinner. Dave and I have been invited out to dinner with the couple Sax and Sherry from "Red Eagle". The restaurant was very reasonable, the food was very good and we had a great time with them.

Some unique bronzae figures they displayed downtown

Jan 27- We woke to a wet dreary morning but that did not dampen our spirits. Bonnie and I decided to take in the "Chihuly" museum displaying this artists collection.. The guys are just hanging out at the boats so they can fix Charlie's shut down solenoid on his starboard engine. The museum was wonderful so after the tour we decided to go to the "Hot Shop" where they actually show you how to blow the glass and form it. We unfortunately decided to walk to this place, got a little lost and were late seeing the whole show but did see most of it. We headed back to see what the guys were up to, had dinner and called it and early night as we are leaving for Sarasota tomorrow morning.

This piece was actually displayed in someone's home

This was called starburst

This one was called float boat

Some of Chihulys collection (fabulous)

Jan 28- We woke to another dreary but foggy day. We are planning to head out at 10:00 am as we have a 35 mile day today. The wind is down so Tampa Bay is calm but we only have 1/8 of a mile visibility around us so it is a radar day. We could not see the Sunshine Skyway until we were almost upon it. Once we turned back onto the ICW we heard the Coast Guard advising that Tampa Bay was closed to all boat traffic (that's how foggy it was ). As we got closer to Sarasota the fog was lifting which made our trip into the marina at the Hyatt Regency much better. We called ahead to ask what our tie up would be at our slip and they advised it was a side tie so we would just bring the dingy up along the swim grid, but that was not the case so to Plan B. I had to unhook the dingy and drive it to a dock tie it up then run and give Dave a hand from the dock to get into our slip. We had a narrow area and Dave had bring Manana past two other boats then turn into the slip. Dave turned Manana perfectly and in she came. The Hyatt Regency is a beautiful place and we have use of all the amenities as we would if we were staying at the hotel. Dave actually went up and used the hot tub after dark for awhile. We were tired from our foggy trip so we made it an early night.

Hyatt Regency marina

Entrance to Hyatt

Sonata at Hyatt

Condos across from us and their slips

Pool area with hot and waterfall

Jan 29- We have made plans to go to the Ringling home to do a tour today. The sun is shining but the wind is blowing from the North so it is quite cool. We took a cab to the Ringling home, took the tour which lasted a couple of hours so we were a little hungry when we headed back so we had the driver stop at a pizza place just around the corner from the Hyatt Regency we were staying at. Bonnie and I decided we need some retail therapy so we planned to go to Stein Mart and the guys decided to go get an HDMI cable for our boat. We did a little damage shopping and then we went into Publix to get a couple of things then headed back to the boat. The guys had just gotten back as well. We had dinner and an early night again as we are leaving tomorrow.