Mote Marine Laboratory

My sister and niece were in town for a visit a couple of weeks ago. Just at the start of the spring breaks, and you can tell with all the traffic around then. The weather was finally warming up, but on Sunday it rained some, so we decided it was a good day to visit Mote Marine on City Island (temporarily rename "Google Island") I might go into that at a later time.
Of course it was busy due to the overcast weather. My uncle is a member and had tickets for us all to go.

They have several tanks inside, labeled and lit accordingly. I love seeing the sea horses and the jellyfish.

Hello!

I know this tank looks bizarre. It is jellyfish and they have special lighting and the water is constantly in motion. It was hard to get a good photo with my camera. I didn't want to use a flash that would take away the effect.

Oh, I liked the reef and coral they had displayed.

These jellyfish were pretty cool too.

Again they were always moving...

I caught him upside down! It was funny because we had a lot of hugh jellyfish washed up on our beaches at this time too. I'm not sure what kind they were. I should of asked the experts at Mote, they should know the marine life around here!

Lobster anyone?

Hammerhead sharks.

They are the strangest looking sharks.

This is in the George Jameson Aquarium where they have larger sharks, grouper, rays, and other fish.

I would do the music in Jaws, but how do you write that?

You can view from under the water or go up and look down into the water.

The on ray was huge. The also have several touch tanks. I love the one where you can pet the rays, they are so soft!

A short walk across the street is where they have The Mote Marine Laboratory Manatee Research Program and the Dolphin & Whale Hospital. This is Harley and Moonshine playing around right before feeding time.

The Mote Marine Aquarium is a part of the Mote Marine Laboratory, which focuses on researching and educating the public about some of the animals found in the waters around Florida and throughout the world. They have over 100 different marine species, ranging from sea turtles to sharks, and they also provide visitors with more educational opportunities than most zoos and aquariums, since this is a full laboratory and research facility.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/articles/Mote-Marine-Aquarium-Sarasota-Florida.html#ixzz0kXx7PHyK

They also have a 27-foot-long preserved giant squid named Molly, and this is the only place in the United States where you can see such a large specimen displayed. I didn't get a photo of this, it was too big.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/articles/Mote-Marine-Aquarium-Sarasota-Florida.html#ixzz0kXxK642r


This facility also has a sea turtle hospital, and like with the dolphin and whale hospitals, the Mote Marine Aquarium provides care to wild creatures found stranded or injured, in hopes of releasing them back into the wild. A few of these animals, although fairly healthy, have been deemed un-releasable, and have become permanent residents of the aquarium

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/articles/Mote-Marine-Aquarium-Sarasota-Florida.html#ixzz0kXxVyDl0

Two dolphins that can no longer be released back into the wild are Harley and Moonshine.

They are Spinner Dolphins. We happened to be there when they were feeding them and got to see them perform some. They switch up the times they feed them so they won't get used to a certain time waiting for this.

A nice belly rub.

Caught one in the air.

It was hard to know when they were going to jump.

They were very talkative and were playing before any of the trainers or workers were around. I loved the dolphins too. Now on to the manatees.

This is Hugh, he was so active. He is showing off right now swimming upside down, and then around.

I don't know his name yet, but I hear he gets fed well because he eats when the manatees are fed which is quite often.

Hugh and Buffet eat about 72 heads of lettuce every day. Buffet was the younger, less active one.

Hugh, says hello, but Buffet is the bump up in the background. Like his own little cave.

The Laboratory does a lot of research, they are working on how to reduce Red Tide. We have been without red tide for awhile now. They also monitor sea turtles nest. They mark them and check them everyday. When I lived on the beach in Venice we had one in our front yard, and I happened to have guests over when they hatched the night before. They count how many empty eggs shells and then release the ones that are still there that didn't make it out of the nest. It was the fascinating to see, those little turtles swimming, swimming, swimming. I hope they made it.

You can check out their website for more .

http://www.mote.org/index.php?submenu=AQUARIUM&src=gendocs&ref=Aquarium%20Visitor%20Info&category=Aquarium
Thanks for tagging along!

Old Salty Dog

Quick post here. Sunday Wade had a friend he new from Michigan that was in town on business, so we met him at The Old Salty Dog. It was a clear sunny day and everyone who is sick of the cold weather, just in the 60's (barley) was out in the sun. The Old Salty dog was one of the restaurants featured on the Travel Channels' show, Man vs Food. They have a foot long hot dog that they batter and deep fry, then pile the toppings on. It took me forever to get out there. St Arman's Circle was so crowded with people out walking everywhere. Then it took even longer trying to get off the key.
It is located on City Island across from Mote Marine and Laboratories. That will be another post.

Right on the water. They have heaters on when you sit outside and it's too cool out. We were on the other side in the sun.

Our view! We just went for appetizers, or I did. I don't like hot dogs so I got the Parmesan Seafood dip with tortilla chips.

Wade got a bowl of clam chowder, his friend got the dog bites. As always the gulls want handouts.

This on was right above us, I was wishing for an umbrella right about now! Just hope nothing happens when he takes off!

Nice view!

It was nice just spending time outside again!

Wordless Wednesday

Manatee Viewing Center

Yesterday was a cold and rainy day. We went over to the condo to help mom and dad load their car for home. They were on the third floor and I can feel it in my calves from running up and down the stair so much. It rained the whole time were were packing the car, but cleared when we were in the restaurant for lunch. (I think there's some sort of law for that) ha! They will be staying with my aunt and uncle in Bradenton for a fews days before going back to Michigan. Well everyone has left so now I can get back to my blogs. I thought I would show you another place we saw for their visit.
Tampa Electric Manatee Viewing Center. The weather has been unusually cold this winter in Florida, well not just Florida many parts of the country has experienced more than there fair share of cold and snow! We will get cold days during the winter but it normally doesn't last more than a couple of days then we warm back up, often above average temps. Not this year, we've been staying below average for sometime now (we're thinking about moving further south).

TECO (Tampa Electric) has a power plant that puts out warm water into an outlet. The area where this happens attract all sorts of sea life when it is cold out. When the water temperature gets below 68° the Manatees join in for the warmer water.

The Manatee Viewing Center is open to the public daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., November 1 through April 15. (The center is closed Thanksgiving, at 3 p.m. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Easter.) Admission and parking is free, but you can make a donation.

You can watch the manatees come in and out of the bay. In this photo you can see where the warm water comes out. All those dots or bumps in the water are manatees.

It was crowded that day with both manatees and humans. You can also see rays, sharks, and a lot of fish. They have signs with pictures to help identify what you might see.

Here is a little closer, the manatees can stay under for around 20 minutes before needing to take another breath. They move slow and often will get hit by boats because they can't get out of the way quick enough. There were several baby manatees too. We could see the nostrils, and tails when they were moving.

Teco has set up several boardwalks and viewing platforms, so it can accommodate a lot of people.

They also have gardens, a small museum, a cafe, and a hurricane simulator.

It was a nicer day out than it looks. The clouds came in while we were there.

Behind one platform looking out to the bay. There is a boardwalk that goes out right across where the warm water comes out. They label all of the plant life too.

This is a Spotted Eagle Ray. The small ones are close to the shore so I could get a good picture of them.

There were larger ones that were jumping everywhere. We often could see the tips of their wings above the water. We even saw a shark jump out of the water twisting in the air before going under again. TECO has some cameras on their website that will show live underwater viewing.

The first three photos, my niece Kendra took. My camera's battery died, you think I would of checked that. Thanks Kendra!

Wordless Wednesday

Sharkey's Venice Florida

Just a quick post because I have family visiting!
My sister and niece Jessica and her boyfriend are in town for a week. Jessica turned twenty one on Feb 13. Her sister who lives in Colorado Springs flew in to surprise her for her birthday. I didn't have my camera at the airport for the surprise but my sis did. I see if I can get that one posted later. Their first day here we went to try to find sharks teeth in Venice. Kendra is a 1st grade teacher and wanted to find some to show her class. I have a bunch that I found when we lived on the beach in Venice, but she didn't want them that way!

The sand on the beaches in Venice are a little darker. There you'll find a lot of fossils other than the fossilize sharks teeth. They rebuilt the beach several years ago and it hasn't been quite the same since to find the sharks teeth, but maybe it's getting better again. Okay that's not a sharks tooth above, the ones they found were tiny. I just wanted to show the sand.

It had rained in the morning just as we were coming down, but it cleared up enough shortly after that. The pier was built for the fisherman and there is a slight charge if you want to go on it.

They rent these baskets so you can go out and grab some shells and such from the bottom and sort through it to see if you can find any sharks teeth. I took this photo of some others that had these, but forgot to tell Brian and Jessica that they rent them until later...oops. I never rented one and really didn't think they would want to. (You can see them all searching a pile in the background)

The restaurant Sharkey's is right at the start of the pier and has a Tiki Bar outside and usually will play island music with steel drums. They have an array of frozen drinks that they will only sell you two, after that you are cut off!

Under the boardwalk...I mean pier, down by the sea....I mean gulf!

Grandma and grandpa with the grand kids, well three of them.

This was a real quick post. I'll have to go back when the weather is a little nicer, and it looks prettier out. Tomorrow we go to Apollo Beach to see the Manatees!