RV Having Fun Yet?: All Things Shark

This was one of those rare times on this trip when we spend two nights in the same location. Two nights in Venice, Florida. Seems like forever.

We started this morning by going to Sharky’s Beach and taking a long walk on the beach. One of the things that is popular here is to hunt for fossilized shark teeth. Supposedly this place is loaded with them. And the local gift shop will rent you a sieve for ten dollars for the day to allow you to dig in the sand, sift out the sand and water, and sort the rest for shark teeth. There are piles of shell fragments all over the place where people sort all that stuff out and dump them in piles on the beach.

We went cheap and just scanned the beach as we walked. Didn’t find any. Interestingly enough, we found three of them yesterday on Venice Beach on our beach walk. Just spotted them laying in the sand. But in the place known for shark teeth, nope.

We took a long bike ride on the Legacy Trail, which runs all the way from Venice to Sarasota. The trail is about 19 miles long, we ended up riding nearly 14 miles of it, for a total round-trip distance of 27 miles. We rode to the southern suburbs of Sarasota and turned around at the Culverhouse Nature Park. There was a community garden there and a guy was pulling thistles out of the grass. We struck up a conversation with him, found out he was 85 years old and still working this garden as a volunteer. I hope I’m that capable when I am 85.

The parking lot was full when we arrived back at the RV. Lots of people digging for shark teeth or just hanging out at the beach. Also a lot of people at Sharky’s Restaurant, overlooking the beach and the fishing pier. We hung out at the beach for a bit, idly searching for more shark teeth, but found none. We even upgraded our equipment, although the colander from the RV galley didn’t work all that great. It just plugged up with sand.

Rather than try to find somewhere else to eat, we made a whole day of it and had dinner here at the beach. We then walked the beach again until the sun set, hoping for one of those amazing Florida sunsets. Decent, but not spectacular.

After a run to the grocery store and some ice cream at a nearby Culver’s, we are now parked in a driveway for the second night. This is as far south as we go. Tomorrow we start wandering back north and into the panhandle.

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. So we’re not sure what we will be doing.

A few pictures from today...