RECREATION

Out and About
You'll be amazed at the diversity of natural beauty you'll discover canoeing or kayaking South Lido Park's watery trail through a tunnel of mangroves, or examining marine life on a bay cruise. View bromeliads growing in the wild along the new Canopy Walk at Myakka River State Park, and picnic by a lazy creek at Oscar Scherer State Park.  Make it a day to stretch yourself with windsurfing lessons, parasailing, or fishing for the big ones.  There are plenty of great courts serving up tennis, and don't miss the opportunity for an autograph when Major League Baseball begins spring training.

Days on the Greens
Every Sarasota day is a golfer's dream with more than 30 courses sprinkled throughout the county, challenging all levels of play and budgets. Of the Top 20 Southwest regional courses voted by the readers of Florida Golf News, nine are in the Sarasota area; four local courses are in the top 100 places to play in the whole state. Always looking to improve your game? Top instructors can show you how to trim a slice and get to the green in two. So grab your clubs and make the most difficult decision of the day — which fairway to play.

Boating
With 17,000 pleasure boats -- sailboats to speedboats -- registered in Sarasota County, boaters discover an aquatic bliss on area waterways.  Public boat ramps are located all through the county, often serving as the launching spot for boat parades and sailboarding.  The annual Suncoast Offshore Grand Prix Festival attracts thousands of speedboat racing enthusiasts to the area each July.

Fishing Sarasota
Sarasota is home to some of the best fishing -- game or otherwise -- in the state of Florida.  Snook, redfish, kingfish, trout, amberjack, mahi-mahi, and grouper can be found lurking in the backcountry mangroves.  Past the sandbars, big-game tarpons cruise the deep waters of the ocean.  Anglers can find a bounty of fish whether they drop their lines from a dock, boat, bridge, jetty, beach, or public pier.  Snook, Florida's official game fish, is the most sought-after catch in the state.

Even More to Explore
Kids of all ages love getting up close and personal with sea critters at Mote Aquarium or the flocks of shrimp-pink flamingos and entertaining reptile and bird shows at Sarasota Jungle Gardens.  Be "wowed" by the interactive science exhibits at G.WIZ.  Relive local history at Historic Spanish Point with its 4,000-year-old ancient Indian settlement. Or lose yourself in the world-class Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, a wonderland of tropical plants and over 6,000 orchids.