Out on Sarasota Bay

Friends of ours are members of the Freedom Boat Club in Sarasota and invited us to spend the morning on their rented boat. For a fee, you get to use one of this club’s boats from a variety of locations and live your life on the sea like you’ve always dreamed of doing. (Or at least, like you've imagined yourself doing but never would, because you’d be guzzling Dramamine to make that happen.)

We arrived at Marina Jack’s, one of the club’s locations, and off we went. It was a glorious day on the Sarasota Bay; dolphins were spotted, stingrays were seen, pelicans raced alongside us and spirits were high. One of our friends brought along her harmonica and played it like a pro. Our other friend lounged on the front deck with abandon in the bright midday cancer-causing sun. She looked wonderful and free, lying out there. But what does she care?  She’s naturally dark skinned and can throw caution to the wind, unlike her three pale skinned companions hiding under the Bimini beside her. (That’s what you get for youthful transgressions with body oil and a sun reflector.)

                                           copyright pbeck 2012

Had I known I’d wind up in Florida, I would have become a dermatologist and moved here years ago to tend my thriving practice.  But who thinks like this when one is young and views age spots as a sign of bad genes rather than destiny?

We bumped and glided over the water and yelled over the motor. And when we returned to shore, we had that play-outdoors-all-day feeling that we used to get as kids when towards evening, we reluctantly had to go back home for dinner.

We ate lunch at Marina Jack’s outside on the terrace. Happy and game from our bracing trip, we didn’t even mind such a petty thing as the swarming masses of love bugs that landed on our plates and in our drinks.  Pshaw!  After all, boat people are a hearty sort.  They don’t complain about bugs; they’re not sissies. They look great windblown and are capable with ropes.  And for a brief time this morning, I felt that way too, as I fished out the small black islands of insects floating in my drink.

Please read by other blog: http://whatdogsreallythink.blogspot.com/