Visitors to Longboat Key Club & Resort who are on their Florida beach vacation during this holiday season are sure to enjoy stopping by the Sarasota Jungle Gardens “Holiday Lights & Jungle Nights” event. Located on 10 acres of land, the Jungle Gardens feature exotic animal displays and is one of the most popular destinations for families staying at Longboat Key Club & Resort on their Florida beach vacation.

Guests on a Florida beach vacation will instantly be in the holiday spirit when they get a first glimpse of the thousands of sparkling lights and displays the Jungle Gardens has to offer. With easy access on paved walkways, Florida beach vacation visitors will get to enjoy more than 65 lighted displays, including traditional holiday scenes, as well as exotic lighted animals such as lemurs, parrots and flamingos.

According to those staying at Longboat Key Club & Resort, one of the most favorite displays among Florida beach vacation guests is the 21-foot-tall 3-D Christmas tree with its 4,000 lights. Also popular with kids is the 17-foot lighted elephant.

In addition to light displays, guests on their Florida beach vacation will also enjoy seeing the animals, such as monkeys, flamingos and other exotic birds. For adults, hors d’oeurves and cocktails are available for purchase. Kids’ entertainment includes a snowball toss, marshmallow roasting, and appearances by Santa Claus.

Holiday Lights & Jungle Nights is only open on select dates, so be sure to check with your concierge at the Longboat Key Club & Resort for a listing of dates, times, and admission policies. It’s the perfect way for Florida beach vacation guests to enjoy a Happy Holiday at Longboat Key Club & Resort!

Now through February 8, 2009, guests of such Florida resorts as Longboat Key Club & Resort can visit Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition. The exhibition has been viewed by more than 20 million people worldwide and is currently located at Sarasota’s G.WIZ hands-on science museum.

Since the infamous ship sank in April of 1912, people have been fascinated with the story of 1,500 people who died in the ocean waters. Now, visitors to Florida resorts can enjoy learning about the tragic accident and about the lives of the passengers. Current science and technology allow this Titanic exhibition to focus on the human stories by making use of authentic artifacts and allowing guests of Florida resorts to travel through extensively re-created rooms.

As described by guests of Longboat Key Club & Resort, simply entering the exhibition is an awe-inspiring experience. Visitors to Florida resorts are handed boarding passes that have real information about actual passengers of the ship, whose fate you will learn as you exit the displays. They enter through glass doors that make it feel as if they are truly stepping foot aboard the ill-fated vessel.

Guests of Florida resorts travel through the exhibition in a chronological order, from construction, to life on board, to the sinking and rescue attempts. Throughout the journey, actual items from the ship are displayed, including pieces that have been recovered from the bottom of the ocean. Visitors to Florida resorts will also see photographs and stories of passengers before learning their fate at the end.

One final interesting display is the room with the “iceberg” in it. Guests from Florida resorts can touch the iceberg and get a sense of just how cold the water was the night the Titanic went down. Sarasota’s G.WIZ museum is open every day of the week. Admission prices are good for the entire museum, including Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition.

From January to April, snowbirds flock to Longboat Key Club & Resort for a Florida beach vacation – that is, visitors from cold climates come by the thousands to enjoy the Gulf Coast’s warm temperatures while it’s still chilly back at home. But with beautiful beaches, sparkling waters, bustling wildlife, and a serene atmosphere, Longboat Key is also a perfect destination for a quiet Florida resort vacation in the off-season.

It’s easy to enjoy a relaxed Florida beach vacation on Longboat Key any time of the year. Even at the end of the year, temperatures stay warm enough to enjoy a quiet evening walk on the beach or a cocktail at your favorite Florida resort’s outdoor bar. Only 8,000 locals live on the key year-round, ensuring a laid-back feeling when the tourists are gone.

The absence of things like giant shopping malls and flashing neon signs allows the Florida beach vacation visitor to soak up the serenity of Longboat Key. The island is only 11 miles long and just a mile at its widest point, so you’ll feel secluded and comfortable at any of the Key’s Florida resorts. As you walk down the beach, you might see dolphins swimming off the coast or a great blue heron flying by.

For those on their Florida beach vacation looking for a little more action, St. Armands Circle is just a short drive away. Here you’ll find shops, dining, and entertainment to quell your craving for the action. You can take the time to sip a coffee and watch the people, with the comfort of knowing that your serenity and Longboat Key Florida resort is just a hop, skip and a jump away.

From October 15 through May 15, travelers on their Florida beach vacation can enjoy a favorite Florida dish: stone crab claws. The crabs are harvested daily, ensuring that visitors to Florida resorts receive the freshest seafood possible.

Stone crabs, which live mainly along the Gulf Coast, are harvested each year for their sweet and succulent claw meat. An interesting fact that travelers on a Florida beach vacation may not know is that stone crabs are a renewable resource: once their claws are removed, the live crabs are put back in the ocean where their claws will regenerate in one to three years. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, about 40% of the total harvest comes from the waters off of the Florida Keys.

Visitors on their Florida beach vacation will certainly enjoy eating stone crab claws in the traditional manners. Claws are generally cooked immediately upon being brought to dock by placing them in boiling water. When the claws are hot, restaurants at fine Florida resorts such as Longboat Key Club & Resort serve them with melted butter. When they are served cold, the traditional sauce served is something like honey mustard. Locals offer this advice to visitors on a Florida beach vacation: skip the shell crackers and just smack the shell with the back of a spoon to get a clean break!

The meat of stone crab claws is very nutritious and has a texture and flavor similar to lobster. Whether you want medium, large, jumbo, or colossal sized stone crab claws, you’re sure to enjoy this limited-time treat during your Florida beach vacation!

From October 9th through November 22nd, visitors on their Florida beach vacation may want to check out Ed Kashi’s exhibit at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts. Kashi is a photojournalist, filmmaker, and educator who is known for his work in documenting the social and political issues that define our time. His thought-provoking work is worth a visit for guests of Florida resorts.

For parents traveling with children on their Florida beach vacation, consider taking in a showing of Charlotte’s Web the Musical at the Venice Little Theater October 4-21. Parent, grandparents, and children will enjoy this musical on-stage version of the classic E.B. White tale of the friendly pig and his spider friend.

On October 25th and 26th, families on their Florida beach vacation may want to take the little ones to the South Florida Museum in Bradenton for the second annual Halloween family sleepover. Florida resort guests and their families will enjoy many activities, including a family-friendly movie in the planetarium, prizes, treats, and breakfast with the manatees.

For Florida resort guests who are interested in taking a drive to Tampa, psychic Sylvia Brown will be lecturing live at the Tampa Convention Center on October 2nd. She will be discussing “mystical travelers” such as Mother Theresa and Gandhi, and how ordinary people can channel their qualities. Travelers of all ages on their Florida beach vacation will enjoy this talk as they learn how to transform negativity into something positive.

These are just a few examples of how Florida resort guests might like to spend some of their time in October. Information about these and many other events is available for Florida beach vacation travelers at the concierge at Longboat Key Club & Resort.

During your visit to Longboat Key Club & Resort, consider the many options for shopping while on your Florida beach vacation.

Guests of Florida resorts will enjoy shopping at St. Armand’s Circle, where over 150 upscale shops are located. This European-inspired area features beautiful statues, palm trees, restaurants, and exclusive shops for the fashionable shopper. If you’re looking for high style during your Florida beach vacation, be sure to carve out a day to spend here.

For guests of Florida resorts who enjoy antiquing and consignment shopping, Sarasota holds a treasure trove of possibilities! On “Antique Row,” shoppers on their Florida beach vacation will enjoy browsing through non-profit thrift stores and consignment stores, up to high-end art and antique shops. Unique finds include china, figurines, furniture, art pieces, crystal, vintage clothing, collectibles, jewelry, and much more.

Travelers on their Florida beach vacation may also enjoy visiting the Saturday morning farmer’s market Sarasota’s Lemon Avenue and Main Street. Florida resort guests will certainly find the best in local products, including organic produce, seafood, fresh flowers, homemade baked goods, and lots of arts and crafts.

Finally, for the thrifty Florida resort guest, stop by the Sarasota Outlet Center, where merchandise is often reduced as much as 70% of regular retail prices. Shoppers enjoying their Florida beach vacation will find apparel, housewares, gifts, home décor, shoes, accessories, and much more, all at great prices.

Florida resort guests will soon have the privilege of touring the luxuriously appointed private railcar of John and Mable Ringling, which will be on display in September in the Circus Museum at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, just minutes from Longboat Key Club & Resort, an exclusive Southwest Florida resort.

Built in 1905 by the Pullman Co., the 79-foot railcar originally cost $11,325. Its overhaul, funded by a grant from the Florida Department of Transportation, cost $400,000.

The reconditioned railcar was delivered to the museum complex in mid-August, where a wall had to be knocked down to get the car onto a piece of rail track and into the Circus Museum, so Florida resort guests could eventually get a view.

Christened the Wisconsin by John Ringling in 1905, the railcar’s interior includes an observation room, three bedrooms, a dining room, kitchen, bath and servants’ quarters. Fortunately, the original stained-glass transom windows of the car were intact. Florida resort guest enjoying a Florida beach vacation at Longboat Key Club & Resort will eventually be able to tour the Ringling’s opulent railcar.

Museum officials have set January 2009 as the official opening of the Wisconsin, which doubtless was the smallest of the Ringlings’ residences – a perfect bookend Ca’ d’Zan – the couple’s 66-acre estate and dream home on the Sarasota Bay – just minutes from Longboat Key Club & Resort, an exclusive Southwest Florida resort.

Visitors to Florida resorts during September 2008 will find a variety of exciting events taking place in the Florida Keys; and Florida resort guests enjoying a Florida beach vacation at Longboat Key Club & Resort may want to consider exploring some of these nearby adventures.

On Saturday, September 13th, Florida resort guests can drive down to experience the 2nd annual 1960s Bird Bash in Key Largo, which benefits the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center. Species from all over the world will be on display.

The weekend of September 19th-21st, motorcycle enthusiasts from around the U.S. will travel through the Keys to Key West to raise money for charity during the 36th Annual Key West Poker Run. We looking forward to thanking many of these bikers with a cause when that stop to enjoy a Florida beach vacation at Longboat Key Club & Resort along their way,

Also turning a Florida beach vacation into work and play, Some of the best bonefish anglers anywhere will participate in the Marathon International Bonefish Tournament in Marathon from September 25th-28th. You and your family can take a day tour from your Florida resort to come see the big ones that don’t get away!

These are all uniquely Florida events, and examples of why a Florida beach vacation is such an exceptional experience. Information about these and other area events is always available from the concierge to Florida resort guests at Longboat Key Club & Resort.

A set of bones found on the beach by a Texas woman and her children while on their Florida beach vacation could be a deep-sea snake or an eel, a taxidermist told the family.

However, an archaeologist told Tiffany Robinson, who was on a Florida beach vacation in the Longboat Key area, that the fossil might be that of a large fish.

Ms. Robinson has her own opinion about what the skeleton with a large head and sharp, daggerlike fins could have been.

She says, “It looks like a dinosaur.”

The remains mystified mammal researchers at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota and professors at the University of South Florida.

“I’m more baffled that the specialists, the people who should know what it is, have no idea what it is,” said Robinson, a Dallas native who is on a Florida beach vacation with her family.

When the family spotted the bones, their mother turned the find into a paleontology lesson. The family took the remains back to their condo and the children did Internet research, making their Florida beach vacation an educational experience.

When they could not identify the remains online, the family shopped the bones around to experts, who suggested it could be a reptile or a giant grouper.

Whatever the skeleton is, Robinson said she will ship it back to Dallas before the family’s Florida beach vacation ends next week. Her 8-year-old son, Kyle, plans to hang the strange remains in his room.

“But I told the kids that if it is something that has never been discovered before, we’ve got to share it with the world,” Robinson said.

St. Armands Circle, just minutes from Longboat Key Club & Resort, is a favorite of our Florida resort guests. Distinctive in concept, history and beauty, St. Armands provides an unforgettable experience for Florida resort guests from all over the world.

St. Armands is an enchanting circle of boutiques, shops and gourmet restaurants set amidst lush tropical landscaping, courtyards and patios, antique statuary and contemporary architectural design, all of which creates an atmosphere of warmth, elegance and style. Florida resort guests can relax in the restaurants, explore the shops - from trinkets to treasures, gourmet snacks to candlelight feasts - or just sit in the sun.

Today, more than 100 stores on St. Armands Circle pamper Florida resort guests from all over the U.S. and many foreign countries, but in the early 1900s, the area was just a mangrove island too far from the small fishing village of Sarasota to attract much attention.

The key was first bought in 1893 by a French fisherman - Charles St. Amand - for $21.71. His name was misspelled “St. Armand” on the deed. Visionary circus magnate, John Ringling, purchased the St. Armands Key property in 1917 and planned a development that included residential lots and a shopping center in the form of a circle. Unfortunately, the depression got in the way and it took until the 1950s for St. Armands to begin to draw real business - and Florida resort guests.

John Ringling’s influence is still evident today in the planning and design of streets radiating from the circle at the island’s hub and the Italian statuary from his personal collection strategically placed around the key. This shopping circle that attracts Florida resort guests looks very much as Ringling originally envisioned it, with the palm lined medians, park-like setting, and tropical landscaping.

St. Armands Circle is an experience all Florida resort guests will want to include in their Florida beach vacation. From the exclusive shops to the cozy European-style cafŽs. It’s part of what makes your stay at Longboat Key Club & Resort all yours.