Had a lovely stay in Redington Shores. One day, we walked down to Madeira Beach to watch some live music. We came here last year and enjoyed it.

Lots of eateries and bars one can go via dinghy. Live music and cold beer everywhere.

The Monday before Thanksgiving, we departed for St. Petersburg. Had a beautiful trip down the ICW and into Tampa Bay. St. Pete is lovely from the water.

Our initial plan was to stay in Harborage Marina for a week. We ended up staying even longer. St. Pete is an awesome town! Great walking, lots of restaurants and bars, and a killer art scene. Charming stuff all around.

Giving Mike a pass, I hit the Dali Museum. (I have drug Mike to dozens of museums over the decades.) It houses the largest collection of Dali’s work outside Europe. Followed a docent around and really enjoyed it.

This painting was extraordinary! Look closely at the photos within, the focal point of which is Dali’s wife Gala gazing out at the Med. Step back from the painting to see another picture.

So many things going on here! Numerous Venuses. A bull. Note the green at the bottom of one Venus. It is also a necktie below the man’s face. I dig this stuff. <Inserted by Mike: Meh>

We spent a wonderful Thanksgiving with Kent, Heather and Penny on Heartbeat. Although I miss my brother-in-law’s dressing like nobody’s business, we did a dinner proud on our little boats.

Loved the location of our marina in St. Pete. About a mile walk into town. And, lots of manatees around the boat!

The next day, we had a wonderful visit from Jim and Kay Murphy whom we hadn’t seen since our going away party in August of 2018. Kay has been battling cancer and undergoing numerous, gnarly surgeries, in addition to having a stroke through it all. She looked, and sounded, fabulous! Was such a treat!

That night, Kent, Heather, Mike and I Ubered into Ybor City in Tampa. Fun area to walk around. I have never seen more cigar shops. They are everywhere, and really nice. We found live music, as we do, that included an accordion! Love hitting places during the holidays.

My hip was bothering me all day & night. I thought I’d walk it off. The next morning, I could barely walk on it and couldn’t climb stairs (which makes getting around on the boat difficult.) The weather was absolutely stunning, but I stayed on the boat and iced my hip for 2 days. Thankfully, it improved significantly the next week.

Hit the Chihuly Museum. <Dale Chihuly is a glass sculptor with talent rivaling the best Murano pieces>. <Insert by Mike: I like Cholula over my breakfast eggs> I watched a documentary on him years ago, and always wanted to hit this museum. (The main one is in Seattle as he is a WA native.) If you’ve been to Bellagio in Las Vegas, the stunning glass ceiling in the lobby is his work. It was awesome!

Was able to visit with Richard and Susan Heller while in town. Richard is an old childhood friend from Yorba Linda. Was great seeing them. Also broke bread a few times with Jim and Jo Bumiller. Jim is an area native and always knows the best places to visit. Was wonderful spending time with them.

Finally departed St. Pete last Friday. Had a beautiful trip across Tampa Bay.

Sailed past Sarasota, hung a right and tucked up into a beautiful anchorage in Bird Key. (For those of you who are AC DC fans, Brian Johnson lives here. And, yes, I might have dinghied past his home hoping he might be there to invite me to take a swim in his guitar shaped pool. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.) This was a fantastic anchorage surrounded by stunning mansions. Saturday, Mike and I took the dinghy to St. Armands/Lido Beach to our West. Beautiful homes along this path as well.

Gorgeous beach on the Gulf! Had clouds all day which made the sky so cool.

St. Armands is a very cool area of Sarasota. There are statues all over. John Ringling (of Ringling Circus fame) was inspired by his travels to Italy and brought some of the Renaissance to the Sarasota area. He bought a number of statues in the 1920. These, and others, line the streets of St. Armands.

The next day, we took the dinghy East and went to downtown Sarasota. We walked to The Ringling, the 66 acre property where John and Mable Ringling wintered and housed their museum. An absolutely stunning property.

Walking along Sarasota, we passed by a miniature golf place with live gators, and a museum/zoo with fake animals.

Had some beautiful sunsets from our anchorage which was just across from Sarasota Yacht Club (where we are not allowed; we asked).

As we were weighing anchor this morning, Mike yelled for me to go forward. A seahorse had attached to our anchor chain.

The sea horse is back in the water and fine. We are underway heading to an anchorage at Cayo Costa State Park. We went here last year and loved it. The weather is beautiful, and seas kind. Other than the inevitable asshole Florida boaters and their gigantic wakes, it has been a wonderful trip! Will leave you with a video of some dolphins having some fun off our hull from earlier.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Cheers! M&M