Sarasota tourists

6.21-6.22

On Monday, we dinghyed into the dock and hoofed it to the bus depot. We were determined to use public transportation to navigate the city. It was much cheaper than a cab!
We boarded a bus that took us north of the city to the Ringling Bros. Circus museum. John Ringling and his wife had made Sarasota their winter stomping grounds during the early 1900's and had made Sarasota the winter home for the entire circus. We were looking forward to some really cool circusy stuff. Well, much to our pleasant surprise, part of the museum was free to the public on Mondays. We decided that we would try out the free part and if we felt inclined to tour the remained 3 buildings on the grounds, we would come back and pay the entrance fee.
Mr. Ringing was an avid art collector, especially of old, baroque art paintings - this we did not know before going to the museum, we thought it was strictly devoted to the circus. So imagine our surprise when we walked into an art gallery that had absolutely nothing to do with the circus. We followed along behind a tour guide and attempted to be interested in what she was saying, but at the end of the tour, our feet hurt and our eyes had glazed over from the boredom. We had spent 2hours seeing things that we had no interest in and we were exhausted! So, rather than put down the money to see the rest of the museum we decided to head back home - who knew if there was anything circus oriented in the museum at all?!
The following morning, we brought Koa to land for a much needed walk. He, shortly thereafter, stepped on a bee and after a bizarre dance involving lots of limping and leg shaking, finally decided he had had enough and layed on the ground licking his paw. We rushed him back to the boat for a dose of benedryl and hung out with him for an hour to insure that he wasn't going to blow up like a balloon. Then we left him to his drug-induced stupor and headed over to the aquarium
The aquarium was nice, although small. They had a preserved giant squid on display and also a stingray touch tank. I am always surprised at how soft they are! They also had a sea turtle, dolphin and manatee display. I was especially delighted by the manatees as I had made it my mission to see one in the wild since we had started our trip back in February, and yet this captive one was the first one we had seen! After reading the plaque in front of their display case that said that there were as many as 100 manatees spotted on summer days in the ICW, I have been renewed in my hope that we will soon see one of the gigantic sea cows floating around our boat. Any day now...