- September 5, 2026
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The public aquarium at City Island's Mote Marine might have closed just over a year ago, but that doesn't mean nature lovers are out of luck when it comes to getting up-close views of local marine wildlife.
Sarasota Bay Explorers continues to set sail from the dock on City Island for its ecotours, enlisting the talents of Mote volunteers like Jeff Hollway to give a glimpse of the waters below.
The morning of Aug. 27, a three-person team took tourists coming all the way from the United Kingdom to experience the two-hour Sea Life Encounter Cruise.
Lead Biologist Sky Gross has been guiding such tours for the past three years, and she said every experience is engaging because wildlife is unpredictable. No two tours are exactly alike.
"I love when we get a smaller group like today, because we can make it very interactive," Gross said.
After tour group members met outside the Mote facility, they boarded the pontoon and turned southward along Sarasota Bay under the direction of Capt. Jenna Callison. She is a recent addition to the team with about a month under her belt.
"I learn so much from them while listening in," she said of the wildlife experts. "I thought I knew a lot before I started working here, and I've realized how much I still don't know, which is nice."
Hollway added, "It's a floating learning lab."
While the group made its way along the coast, Gross offered facts about the seasonal comings and goings of the bay's sharks, birds, fish, manatees and cetaceans.
The vessel passed the sandy shores of Bird Key, Lido Key and Siesta Key before pausing briefly at Big Edwards Island, where passengers disembarked and it was Hollway's time to shine. He decoded the surrounding greenery and broke down the differences among red, black and white mangroves.
"Indigenous people used to refer to them as 'walking trees,'" he told the half dozen onlookers, explaining how the spider-like roots prompted the nickname. "They're very important to coastal Florida, because that root system helps to reduce erosion by holding onto the sediment. It provides a nursery and protection for young fish from predators."
He also explained which plants were invasive and particularly detrimental to native plants.
The voyage continued past the Roberts Bay Bird Rookery, where brown pelicans huddled along the rocks and cormorants sunbathed.
Gross then turned her attention to the collection of tanks and containers the team filled with fully aquatic animals in the bay. The selection of sponges, crustaceans, gamefish and more made a brief trip to the surface to educate visitors before returning to the bay water and disappearing with the flip of a fin.
Chris and Caroline Carter, who were visiting from Devon, England; said this wasn't their first time touring Sarasota Bay, and they were excited to have made a return trip.
"We did one 15 or 20 years ago," Caroline said. "It was great."
Chris added that it was a memorable experience for the whole family, but this time, they enjoyed the up-close, small-group version of the tour.
This trip was capped with a special flourish as an adult and pair of juvenile dolphins put on a show, surfacing repeatedly just off the boat's bow.
Gross said one oft-asked question is when the best time of the date or point in the season is to book. But wild animals don't operate on a set clock, and every time has the potential to offer something special, like a dolphin family siting.
Moments like that stick with people and impress upon them the importance of working to protect these animals, the captain said.
"I get to work with people who appreciate what's in the water as much as I do, because I have always had a love for educating the public on what we're doing, so they love it too," Callison said. "There are a lot of takers in the ocean. We need givers to educate."
