Sarasota Bay

Go on that six five Charlie Kilo maintain.

So we're gonna see, we're coming up Sarasota Bay here, right? Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.

Um, and then we're gonna be, uh, we're gonna be going over the Skyway too.

So we're gonna be go- the sky will be on your right-hand side.

And you're just, hey, I'm going to have lunch and just peer out into the waters, basically.

Yeah, no, I mean, our campus is literally right on Sarasota Bay.

So, I mean, you walk out the doors and you're on the water and, you know, you go five minutes down the road, you're at some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.

And so, obviously, it's you know, it's a joy to coach here.

It is, uh, in the process of becoming.

It is 53 acres on Sarasota Bay, the most precious and valuable land in the-

Mm-hmm

... city of Sarasota.

Honestly, I drove by, walked through, looked at that site over and over again, and my reaction was, "The current situation is unacceptable." [laughs]

Okay.

And the potential for 50-plus acres on Sarasota Bay is unlimited.

So it was one of those classic things.

[music plays] Poorman was a misnomer for this man because his jalopy turned out to be a spanking new Cadillac, complete with air conditioning and all the fixings, and the shack, anything but.

It was on St. Armand's Key across Sarasota Bay from the mainland, a beautiful two-story concrete and stucco job.

The big yard backed on a quiet bayou, and there tied up at a private dock was a 24-foot lapstrake speedboat, ideal for fishing the Gulf of Mexico.

After all, as long as you're down here on expense account.

And so protecting the places that the water comes from and the water flows from is as essential as protecting the places where it is.

And two, I do want to say thank you so much to the folks over at Tampa Bay Estuary Program and Sarasota Bay Estuary Program.

Y'all were so welcoming, so inviting, and it was such a blast.

And I hope we can do more of them.

great question.

I think, you know, I like, one of my favorite stories to write every two years is the seagrass survey results and just how the bay is bouncing back with seagrass.

I would love 10 years from now to come out of a time machine and just see like a really, you know, love seagrass beds all over Tampa Bay and Sarasota Bay.

I think every time I can write about the corridor as well, just how we are connecting land across the state and see what the progress will be a decade from now.

And then I started working my way more south.

and then more down into Sarasota Bay.

And I did fish it.

Perico.