Venice Boat Parade

Our friends, Patti and Fran, always figure out the coolest things to do!  They went up to Venice, FL, on Wednesday and staked out an area along the canal to watch the boat parade on Saturday evening. We joined them and a dozen or so other people to watch the boats.  They thought of everything - tables, tablecloths, coolers, beach umbrellas, chairs, and even mats for the ground. 

It was a balmy 85 degrees and we needed the umbrellas as we were looking right into the sun as it went down over the canal.  We had time to eat and visit before dark, when the crowds began to gather in earnest.

People lined the banks of the canal for about a mile on both sides of the canal.

Finally, night fell, and the bridges opened up so the parade could begin.  While we had thought fleetingly that maybe we should have decorated the boat and joined the parade, it didn't take many boats before we realized just how high the decorating bar would be.

This giant Christmas ornament constantly changed colors, lighting up the area in blue, red, green, red, and then white again.

Part of the fun was trying to figure out just what kind of boat was beneath all those lights.

Frosty on top, more figures on the back, and tons of lights all around.

Most had enthusiastic dancers on board singing and dancing to the music.

One of my favorites!

The reflections in the water were nearly as beautiful as the boats!

Would you believe an entry from Seattle?

Of the 50 boats, I think this was my favorite!  Definitely a pleasant way to spend a warm evening.  It was still 75 degrees when we got in the car to head home around 8 p.m.

Boating on Lemon Bay

Although it has been warm and sunny, it has been breezy, so we have put off taking the boat out.  Over the weekend, it was calm, but weekends are so busy on the waters that we decided to wait until Monday for our boat ride.

Fran and Patti, Glen and DeeDee and Ron and I headed out for Venice.

We always see birds on the mangrove islands, but I have never seen so many brown pelicans in one place.

I think the schools of mullet in the canals are what caused so many birds to be congregated here.

The canal between Englewood and Venice was full of mullet fishermen of all kinds.  These guys were impressive in their ability to throw an eight-foot diameter net into a perfect circle and then drag it up full of the heavy fish.

We pulled into "Pop's" for lunch and then to the fuel dock to fill the boat.  It was a great day for an outing in Lemon Bay with friends!

Beaches and Sights of Venice

The south end of Venice Island, FL, is mostly city parks.

The first access to the beach is at Maxine Barritt Park.

Sharky's Restaurant is nestled between two parks and also has beach frontage and a long pier in front of the restaurant.

On the other side of Sharky's Pier 

is the Service Club Park

Where on the 3rd Saturday of every month, Florida Underwater Sports sponsors a weekend scuba dive.  Dunkin' Donuts supplies donuts and coffee for divers and the company logs divers in and pairs them up if they come alone to dive.

So, what they are diving for is mostly big shark teeth, such as this one.  This diver let us hold the big tooth and told us he dives every day for teeth and sells them to tourist shops in town.  

After thinking about it, we went back and asked him if the teeth he had were for sale, and how much.  To our dismay, this one was in the $1200 category.  Pretty and amazing, but definitely out of our price range.  I was tempted to rush back and get my snorkel and mask, but we were on a bike ride, so we continued on.

On our way up Venice Avenue, we came across this amazing Christmas decorative display.

The median had natural decorations - such as these Banyan trees,

and multiple colors of Hibiscus.

The shopping district of Venice has multiple dolphin 

statues, painted in colorful designs,

with turtles also taking their place on the avenue

making it an interesting place to walk.

Since we were in Venice, we stopped at Nokomis Groves,

and had a dish of chocolate/lime swirled ice cream.

Motorcycle Ride to Sharky's on Venice Beach

Venice beach has the highest concentration of prehistoric shark's teeth of any beach in the world according to the place mat at Sharky's bar and grill on the beach.  The beach is beautiful and we plan to come back when we can look for some of those shark's teeth.

Sharky's is located at the pier.

Since the restaurant didn't open until 11:30, we had a half hour to wander on the pier and visit.

Hard to decide what to eat - big menu!

I'm usually the photographer, but Earl took my camera and got this rare picture of me. 

Then back to the bikes for the ride back.  We took the long way home, riding down Manasota Key.

Fun ride on a day that started pretty cool, but we bundled up and stayed warm as we rode in the sunshine.