The Wandering Disciple

The South Venice Beach Ferry crosses embarks on a journey across the intercoastal waterway transporting another load of beach-goers to the island oasis of the private South Venice Beach. This members only beach club uses a ferry to connect its members from the mainland base to a private beach along the Gulf of Mexico. (Photo: June 28, 2015)

A white ibis searches through a water filled ditch looking for a bit to eat. An adult ibis is the shape of a football, had long legs and a distinctive curved bill. They can be found in a group foraging in wetlands. (Photo: June 13, 2015)

Venice, Florida: Accessible only by private ferry, South Venice Beach is a quiet tropical oasis distant from the hustle and bustle of busier beaches. The remoteness off the beach is a glimpse back to the coastline before development. A trip to South Venice Beach begins at the ferry launch on the mainland. Here the captain departs with up to 22 passengers every half-hour on a quick seven minute sail across the intercoastal waterway to the island dock. Once the ferry docks at the island, a short walk down the boardwalk will take visitors to the beach. Where the Gulf of Mexico meets the deserted sands of South Venice Beach. Here you can look for shells and sharks teeth, sunbathe or take a swim in the Gulf. When you have had enough of the Florida sun and sand, the ferry will be there every thirty minutes to transport you back to civilization on the mainland. South Venice beach is only accessible via the South Venice Ferry. Yearly passes can be purchased at the dock and is good...

Venice, Florida:  My wife recently read an article that spotlighted the hobby of Geocaching.  I have several friends that enjoy it, but I have never tried or really had much interest in it.  But after reading the article, we decided to give it a try. We downloaded an app for the Iphone and set out on our way to try and find a cache.  To get out feet wet, we searched for easy ones nearby our house. The first one we punched in was called "Uncle Salty Don't Live Here No Mo" and was located within the Manasota Scrub Preserve.  We hit the trails and tried to find our first cache.  We traveled down the park trails and came to within 100 feet of the the cache but ran out of trail.  My son and I began hiking through the thick scrubby brush and it didn't seem like we were making any headway.  After tearing ourselves up on the saw palmettos and the jaggers, we decided to call it quits. I was really discouraged after our first attempt.  But my w...