Venice Beach

Peg, Betsy, and I went to Venice Beach for sister time and to hunt sharks teeth. Success on both fronts. Our base was the Venice Beach Villas, a non-beachfront old Florida-style motel on Venice Avenue, within walking distance of the beach, restaurants, and shops. Initially, I was disappointed not to be right on the beach, but I changed my mind. Owner Craig provided bikes (which we never got around to using), scoops and sieves to sort sand from treasure, beach chairs, and lots of towels. Perfect.

The Gulf was calm and warm. We spent hours sitting in the water, just at the shore’s edge, looking for teeth. To find really big ones, we probably had to snorkel along the backwater riverbank, but mangroves do not appeal to us. Two young women said they’d found more than 200, but we weren’t as diligent. Oldsters stopped by and reminisced about finding teeth while just walking the beach. Since these teeth are from prehistoric sharks, I think there are just as many as there were 30 or 40 years ago. Now there are just more people looking. Plus, at some beaches, the powers that be have “re-nourished” the beach with dredged-up sand. 

I was pleased I recognized black-bellied plovers, semi-palmated plovers, and Easter willets, which I learned on our South Carolina trip. Ruddy turnstones have discovered that beach goers have food, so they hung around higher on the shoreline, near the tourists. Probably not a good thing. We also saw an American bald eagle circling over the motel, Betsy saw a red headed woodpecker there, in addition to the usual ospreys and vultures. We didn’t see any Florida scrub jays while walking a trail at Oscar Scherer Stare Park, but heard catbirds and brown thrashers. A few palm warblers around.

My biggest thrill was finding a shop that claimed it sold Everglades python leather products. Unfortunately, it was closed, however I will call them. I would love a pair of python boots IF they truly were made of snake skins from the Everglades. Fingers crossed.

We ate lunch at Wally’s River Roo, on the Bradenton River in Ellenton. I’m a sucker for any waterfront restaurant, but this place has good food too. My Caesar salad with local shrimp was great. Peg and Betsy shared shrimp tacos. 


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