Snow shovels in Sarasota

Two weeks have passed since we posted the last blog.  Life in the sun has continued its normal relaxed existence.  Sue and Alice came over from Venice for lunch, before Alice headed back to Atlanta.  Friends from CPII joined us for drinks.  We’ve been for several walks, often along the beautiful beaches in the area.

Beach walks

We love walking at the edge of the sea.  Even on beaches that we visit regularly, we sometimes spot different things.  In the course of our recent Anna Maria Island walk (from City Pier to Manatee Beach) we saw some people apparently practising circus acrobatics, and a couple getting married!  (Not the first wedding we’ve seen at the Sandbar – this one was much less formal that the one we saw last year.)

Entertainment on Anna Maria City Pier

Circus tricks 1

Circus tricks 2

Beach wedding

Exchanging vows

When we went to South Lido Beach, there was quite a strong wind, so the kite surfers were out in force. We enjoyed watching, but were quiet glad to round the bend to the sheltered side of the island, and find a perfect spot to get out our chairs and have a quiet read!

Seabirds swarming for fish

Kite surfers

Let’s go fly a kite!

Clearly a popular spot

One day we decided to go a bit further afield, to Caspersen Beach (just south of Venice) which we hadn’t visited before.  It’s a ‘natural’ beach, a long stretch of sand with lots of shells, some large rocks, dunes, palm trees etc.  When we arrived, there were relatively few people there. We walked along the beach for a couple of miles – we could have gone much further, but decided to turn back and get our coffee out of the car!   By that time there were more people around and we saw that many of them were standing in the sea, wielding an implement we learned is known as a ‘Florida snow shovel’ to hunt for sharks’ teeth.  This is obviously a popular pastime on Caspersen Beach – Sandie talked to some people who come every year for a holiday, and spend the time collecting sharks’ teeth to take back ‘up north’.  What they do with them then is unclear!

Caspersen Beach

Treasure hunt

How to use a Florida snow shovel

Searching through the spoils

Evening entertainment

There’s always a variety of entertainment on offer in Sarasota.  Last Friday we went to the Opera House, to see Madame Butterfly. It was a splendid production: great set, beautiful costumes and of course wonderful music.  Although not opera buffs, we were enthralled.

We’ve seen several live plays recently, but a week ago we went to the cinema for a change.

We saw an excellent film called A United Kingdom.  From advertising material we’d gathered it was about a white British woman who married an African prince, but it wasn’t until the film started that we realised it was the story of Seretse Khama, who were treated abominably by the UK government, kept apart from his wife and out of his own country for years, before finally leading his people to independence.  It was a story familiar to us, because we’d read all about it when visiting Botswana in 2013!

Statue of Seretse Khama in Gaborone, Botswana

Gaborone airport is named after him