Monday, June 30, 2008

Beach Review Log - Part One



Venice Beach (June 13) - We went at night and ate/drank at a beachfront restaurant/bar called Sharky's on the Pier (above). It was beautiful, but the sand fleas were out and I got pretty bit up. Sharky's is fun. Try the conch fritters. We will have to hit this one again during the day. FYI - this beach does not allow adult beverages.

Nokomis Beach (above) - You can bring your margaritas to this beach. The sand is not super white or fine, but the water is beautiful and there is easy access to parking (at least for now... it's not snowbird season yet) and showers to hose the sand off your feet before you get in your car. Just across the drawbridge over the intracoastal waterway (less than a minute from the beach is a great little restaurant/bar called Pop's. They have great food. Try the fried fish reuben, the fish 'n chips and the grouper fingers basket. It's a great spot to see the boats going in and out. There are always birds to watch and sometimes you get a show. The first time we were there a family trying to dock their boat at the restaurant had some problems. The mom ended up in the water and the boat police showed up!
Pop's Sunset Grill


Turtle Beach


Turtle Beach (June 27) on southern Siesta Key - Great shelling! I collected a jar full. Shelling is so much fun! The beach sand is coarse. The water was great and it was not at all crowded. There were showers across the parking lot. I don't know about the drinking rules. Does anybody else? Lunch at Turtle's Pub was a grouper nuggets basket. I LOVE grouper so much I could eat it everyday.

10 comments:

Life, Love And Lola said...

Pop's is one of my favorite places to go! I love Sharky's too! We must live pretty close. You should go to Siesta Key Village. A good friend of mine owns The Daquri Deck and The Speakeasy. Both are a lot of fun.

Life, Love And Lola said...

Oh, and you can drink at the beaches...just no glass containers.

Hollie said...

Cute blog! We used to live very close to Siesta Key! Love that beach. Now we spend most of our free time in Panama City Beach. any beach=good beach!
Have a great day!

nanny said...

Beautiful sunset!!!!

Live.Love.Eat said...

Great reviews. This will help me as I am already trying to plan our next vacation to the west coast somewhere near Sanibel or Marco Island or Naples. We did Sandestin a few weeks ago which was beautiful.

The Mrs. said...

Sounds amazing!!! Wish I was there!!

Unknown said...

Nice pictures! I wish I was there... kicking back with a drink, checking out the waves and the sunset

The Rockin' Wife said...

You live somewhere near where I lived in High School.....Try Siesta Beach, the sand is so soft. You can drink on the beach there, too. I remember many a keg party out there. (Did I say High School?!?) Scary.

Sarasota Beaches are amazing. Crescent Beach is nice, too. Small and almost like a private beach access.

Try the Salty Dog out by Longboat Key.- A little further north, but the deep fried hot dog...YUM!

Denim and Pearls said...

Oh Sharky's! You're bringing back memories for me. I grew up in Sarasota. I'm seconding the votes for The Daquari Deck and The Salty Dog. And get out to St. Armand's Circle one day, it's great to just wander around.

Alison said...

I love Sharky's. I have a lot of family in Venice, and Sharky's is always a must visit! Great blog!!