Twirling Poi

Last Sunday, I was near Siesta Key and decided to take a nice, quiet evening stroll along the beach. What I forgot is that every Sunday night there's a drum circle on Siesta beach.  I never make a point to go, but the couple of times I've stumbled across it I've had fun.  Along with beating drums and tambourines, and shaking maracas, some folks like to twirl neon lights at the end of a long string.  It's pretty cool to watch the neon in the darkness and one guy who was especially proficient at it was kind enough to tell me that lights on a string are known as poi.  This is a shot of two people (one with green lights and the other with red and blue lights) dazzling the drum circle was their poi moves.

Theme Day: Postcard-Worthy

It's theme day for all of us in the City Daily Photo world. Today's theme is 'postcard-worthy'. Well, SDP staff is very fortunate to have lots of postcard-worthy photo opps here, including the beach, seashells and the Gulf of Mexico. This is Turtle Beach on Siesta Key. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Island Life

You never want to be in a hurry when you're trying to get on Siesta Key or off it, because inevitably you'll encounter this scene. The drawbridge on Stickney Point Road opens to allow tall sailboats and other vessels pass through. It used to open on demand whenever someone wanted to go through; but, the Coast Guard changed the schedule about five years ago so that it opens every 20 minutes, if necessary. The traffic stop this time was actually quite short, with the bridge going up and down quickly. When I lived in Michigan there was a drawbridge near Grand Haven (another popular tourist destination), which occasionally would get stuck in the up position. And, believe it or not, at the time there was just one engineering firm in the state which could be dispatched to fix it --- and it was located three hours away. Talk about a traffic nightmare! I've never known that to occur here; however, if it did, at least one would have palm trees to admire during the wait.

3 Games...One Sunset

After being on the go, hitting three baseball games in three days, during the 2011 spring training tour, it was nice to have a few minutes to enjoy a sunset on Siesta Key.  Even though the temperature was dropping, my friend from Detroit enjoyed dipping his toes in the Gulf of Mexico before heading back to the frigid temps in the mitten state.  (The way the weather is up north this year, who knows when those legs will see sunshine again!)  

Watery Wednesday: Drama Queen

Mother Nature can be such a drama queen!  This was one of the most dramatic sunsets I've seen in a long time.  A couple of weeks ago, I showed you this shot from the same sunset taken about ten minutes earlier on Turtle Beach on Siesta Key.  It was one of those cloudy skies where I thought  there was no chance of a pretty sunset and then seemingly out of nowhere Mother Nature put on quite the impressive show. She whipped out her pallet and suddenly pinks and melons were streaking through the clouds....followed by lavenders and greys tentacling across the sky...and then...the piece de resistance....flaming oranges and reds backlighting the scene and reflecting off the Gulf of Mexico.  Wow.  By the way, this is straight out of the camera.   To see other Watery Wednesday photos from around the world click here.

Aaaaaah!

Some days you just need to unwind by the time the clock strikes five.  This did the trick last night!  Mother Nature put on quite a show for me at Turtle Beach on Siesta Key....the sky was filled with a dazzling array of hues backlighting a patchwork of wispy clouds.  Right when I thought it couldn't get much better, a chunk of driftwood washed ashore.  It was kind of like a dream....which is what I tried to capture in this image.  (Enlarge it and you'll feel like the water is about to wash over those spidering cracks in the sand, right onto your toes.)  The shooting was so good, I'll probably post a couple more from this series over the next week or so.  In the meantime, I'm disappointed to report I hit a snafu with the SDP poll.  'Taking Photos Outside of Sarasota' was in the lead by two to one, when the poll inexplicably reset itself and indicated no one had voted.  ((sigh))  Thanks to everyone who participated yesterday.  For what it's worth, I'll keep the poll up for a few days if you're interested in voting again.

Emergency Jump Rope?

This just struck me funny.  In the Siesta Key beach parking lot, where most people are loading and unloading their blankets, coolers and other beach sundries, this guy was jumping rope -- with his driver's side door open.  It was as if he was driving and randomly decided to stop and jump rope.  The more plausible (and less interesting) explanation is that he was just finishing his workout.  I never had the chance to find out.  Moments after this shot was taken, he drove off.

Soccer with a View

It was another beautiful day to be playing on the beach, like these guys on Siesta Key.  I just love the azure water of the Gulf of Mexico in the background.

Only Suntan Oil Here

Still not a drop of oil on Florida beaches from that spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  The only oil you'll find here is suntan oil! This is Siesta Key beach.  Stunning, isn't it?  That's why every year it's considered one of the  Top Ten Beaches in the world.  

Siesta Soccer

I stumbled across a group of ten young men playing beach soccer on Siesta Key beach last night.  While they looked like they were having a great time, I couldn't figure out how they were playing barefoot -- that ball is hard!  (At one point, the ball rolled near me and I poked my flip-flop covered foot at it and could barely tolerate that.)