Return to Siesta Key: My Kind of Florida Beach Town

I first visited Siesta key Feb. 2, 2016 to see its famous
beach and enjoy the lively village, and returned a year to the day to watch the
Superbowl and eat seafood. I made
a web page describing Longboat key – where I stayed both years – and included
three pictures of Siesta key.

I finally stayed there Jan. 21, 2019 to capture its ethos
and essence in a travel writing web page and contacted Siesta Key Resorts to
rent a room at the Tropical Breeze Motel – they manage it as well as numerous
other local rental properties.
Their office is one of several architectural styles in the Siesta key
mix and similar to the St. Simons Island bungalow.

My Tropical Breeze room was clean, fairly spacious, and well-furnished
too which produced a comfortable night’s sleep in an extremely central
location.

My room was located around the right side and provided a
nice view of the lovely courtyard with an attractive pool area.

The property’s location was outstanding. Simply walk out front and into the
street looking right and one takes in the view of the lively village with its
teeming bistros and bars a block away.

The village offers a striking array of good restaurants, fun
drinking establishments, and assorted retail shops.

Turn your head left and the beach and ocean come into view a
block away.

The broad and pretty beach is usually full of people
sitting, walking, or riding bikes.

Circus impresario John Ringling developed much of the
Sarasota area between 1900 and 1935 and was fond of Italian and Venetian
architectural styles. The style of
the below cute home was popular in the booming 1920’s.

Art Deco was the popular style in Miami’s South Beach area
in the 1930’s. The below structure
with its curved glass brick columns would be in great demand in today’s
bustling and fashionable South Beach.

Beach front property generally commands a super-premium and
Siesta key is no exception. A
variety of modern beach homes is shown below and note the vast expanse of sea
oats and other plants that hold the sand in place to limit beach erosion. Whether to replenish the beach with
sand from other locations is an ongoing issue in Siesta key and other Sarasota
area beach towns.

Three more examples of popular beach home styles, these with
full beach and ocean exposure, are shown.

I admired the below residential boulevard with its grassy
median and column of stately Palm Trees lined with large impressive homes.

Christopher Wheeler Park – picture after next – is a nice
little pocket. A cluster of bay
front homes and an adjacent sea food bistro is visible across this far eastern
edge of Sarasota Bay.

The vest pocket park is an intimate place to relax and maybe
find some solitude. It’s also next
door to a massive marina with storage space for dozens of pleasure boats.

I like this picture of the many similar crafts lined up as
if they were a brigade of soldiers.

Siesta key’s main beach is famous for its broad and wide
expanse and draws tourists from all over.

I also included the below picture of the American flag
standing along a drainage pipe.

The Lobster Pot serves up fine seafood and is in the heart
of the village. I ordered an
excellent lobster roll with two delicious sides.

I loved the below huge lobster sculpture and tried to
capture it as if the crustacean was scaling and devouring the Lobster Pot.

The Village Café is a great place for breakfast and lunch
and for people watching.

Capturing public art, especially murals, is a joy of mine
and I really appreciated this Italian restaurant’s colorful self-description
and origin.

Siesta Beach offers a rich variety of activities to become
involved in and enjoy. The below
bulletin board describes many things to do like the popular sport of Pickleball.

Signs describing the current Red Tide – green algae problem
warn bathers of health risks.

I photographed this sign because of the Adopt-A-Park
sponsors: Sarasota – Manatee Atheists and Secular Humanists who also wish to
keep Sarasota County beautiful.

The State of Florida – because of climate and beaches – has
been a high growth state for decades and is now the third most populous. The fast pace of development alarmed
environmentalists who warned of damage to Florida’s unique eco-systems unless
habitat protection programs were instituted. The state and concerned individuals and groups have
responded with many initiatives to protect its wildlife and plants threatened from
over-development. See my web page
describing the Green Cay Reconstructed Wetlands as one example.

The below “Share the Shore” sign describes the beach wrack
community of plants – picture after next – and beach nesting birds (last
photo).