Ringling In the Summer with a road trip

  Having taken care of the initial chores on Freedom that prepare her for Summer we needed a break. Let's face it, changing oil, pickling the water maker, cleaning the dink, cleaning teak and oiling it doesn't add up to much excitement. So we got in the car and took off for Sarasota. Our destination was the Ringling Estate. Sound familiar?
 It should as in the "Greatest Show on Earth" familiar. The Ringling Organization is doing a great job of preserving what John and Mable amassed with the profits from the entertainment they provided. While the Estate is not as "Victorian" or massive as places the Vanderbilt family put together, I will say the Ringling's taste and collection was impressive to say the least.

 The house and the surrounding property is on the shore of Sarasota Bay and for the cash these folks had it seems modest. I say that because the buildings that house their art collection are massive. Anyway the house is accessed via a long path and as you can see Deb was in no mood to wait for me while I took photos because we were in between down pours and she had already showered that day. I had also but I was willing to roll the dice on whether or not I had an extra minute or two. Walking around the first floor, you wonder a little if the circus theme worked its way into the furnishings and collectibles distributed throughout the living space. A pipe organ, and various other amenities all work with the surroundings and you wonder if a trapeze artist is going to come swinging down on you.

 They wanted another 20 bucks a person to get up to the second floor and look at their bedrooms. I would have sprung for it but a passing squall laid down a ton of water and all of the exterior marble was soaked and that prevented access to the tower. Let's face it looking at someone else's bed and bathroom isn't all that thrilling so without the extra view of the Bay and property I lost my ability to dig a little deeper. Besides it was still raining.
 That meant we were out of the house and back wandering around the property as soon as the rain stopped. The marble deck that abuts the Bay was spectacular but slick as can be in flip flops. The time that went into assembling this alone had to be substantial.

 But the art museum. Wow. Here's a shot of the courtyard contained by the museum's buildings. I don't remember ever seeing a collection of art that rivaled the big museums in NYC. And the circus theme was alive and well here if you think about it. The first exhibit that was offered via the walk, took you through a display of art created by forgers. Several of them. It had the history behind their entrance into the practice and several of the works they created hanging on the walls. It was an amusing and enlightening display that shed light on how creative crooks can be when the want to. After this there are collections from various period dating back to the 1400's in room after room after room. Amazing.
 But this place was built with cash from the Big Show and someone decided that they'd start a model of the circus environment and the logistics around it. I thought I had some photos of it but it must have been too dark or reflections spoiled the image. Anyway the model contains everything you could expect that is a part of the circus. The 100 car train, locomotive, the tents, the make up tents, the animals the big top name it. It spans the whole top floor of a large building and is very impressive. And it's not done yet!
 Indeed even if the circus stopped performing the greatest show is still alive and well.

 

And it's a Wrap

 Having survived the East Coast of Florida on a major holiday weekend, yes, we chilled at Sunset Bay Marina for a night. Since we fueled up upon arrival getting out in the morning was easily facilitated. There was nothing in front of us except perhaps weather.
 So after hooking up with a great couple with the same boat over cocktails the night before we motored out of the marina and headed West. But this did not happen without a phone call to the lock master at the St. Lucie Lock. Lake Okeechobee and the waterway is managed by the Federal Government. When the water level gets low or to about 12.5 feet, the lockmasters are ordered to a scheduled opening as opposed to "on demand". "On demand" openings occur when boats approach the lock and call the lock on the radio. Regardless of when the lock was last used by the prior boat the lockmasters will flip the lock around and take you through.
 When we left Stuart the lake was at 12.55 feet. Pretty darn close and it was dropping everyday. Fortunately for us the lake held out as well as the Army Corp of Engineers and none of the lock openings were scheduled. All the way across Florida they all opened for us "On Demand". This was a huge relief because missing a scheduled opening can an quite a bit of time to the day of travel.
 At the Port Mayaka Lock, we were greeted to the fact that both lock doors were open at the same time so I did not have to pull the dink in. We did not have to stop, grab lines on the wall, wait for the doors to close and the lock to fill before the next set of doors opened up. All we had to do was motor on through the lock. Great.
 I am thinking this saved us just enough time to stay on the fringe of a rather strong squall that followed us across the lake. Fortunately there wasn't much wind associated with it but there was a heck of a lot of rain. But this was a good thing because Freedom had a good crust of salt on her from all of the traveling since, yes, Sea Spray Marina in the Abacos!
 With a tie up at the Moore Haven town dock and a quiet night of rest we were ready to move on to the West Coast. The rest of the trip West was uneventful until we passed the rail road bridge prior to entering the Fort Myers area. At that point the water was calm and Deb decided we may as well get ready to dock the boat. Even though we were about an hour away from the dock the chore had to get done and it might as well get started. So she is leaning over the starboard side setting up a fender when someone decided to jump out of the water right under her face.

Yeah, Flipper shows up. But I don't know about it. Deb let's out a scream like there's a body in the water and I am thinking it could be hers.
Deb you ok? Eyaaaahhhhh.......
Deb WTF?
Whooooaaaa!
Ok, HEY! What is going on?
Eventually she was able to calm down enough to fill me in. So I set up the auto pilot since there was no traffic or obstructions and took a moment to fire off a few more shots of the welcoming committee. Now look carefully at this last one. Does it look like it has a wise ass grin on? I think so. I'm convinced it knew full well that it was going to scare the heck out of Deb and it was fully aware that it did.
 Regardless, it was great to have been met, and the dolphin stayed with us for quite a while until we found our way into the marina channel. There's nothing like a natural welcoming committee when you arrive home.