Bar 57-58 Melbourne

Bartender at Bonefish Willys: What can I get for you?
Sarah: A Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale

Wow, it has been a long time since we've been to a beach bar. We've been going through a bit of withdrawl. It has been a busy few months for us. We just moved in to a new house and have been really busy getting it to the point we want it. We've made a lot of progress but still have a long ways to go. We've been here just about two months now and things are just now starting to feel like home. We decided to take a break from our weekend activities and hit up a couple beach bars. We picked two great bars to get back in the swing of things!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Bar 57: Squid Lips
We had dinner and drinks sitting on the outside deck of Squid Lips.

The atmosphere is really laid back (haven't found a beach bar that isn't!) and it was exactly what we needed on that Friday night.

The food was really good and I believe Ryan finished his drink in about 15 minutes.



Squid Ink and Mango in Paradise



Squid Lips decided that they needed a beach so they built one! They had live music playing (always a plus in our book) and we would have sat at these tables for another drink it we didn't have another bar in the area we wanted to visit.

Bar 58: Bonefish Willys

This reminded me of a backyard party on the water. Again, the live musician did his best to set the mood. It took a while to get a seat at the bar and the wait for a table outside was about 45 minutes but as it is with these places it's worth it.

We sat at the bar outside. I had a Kona Firerock Pale Ale and Ryan had a Pina Colada. The Pina colada wasn't great, we've definitely had better. You can tell this is a local hang out and that just helps the atmosphere. You almost feel like an outsider visiting Cheers for the first time.

So,as always, there is a tie-in to the quote we start off with on the blog. In some ways it is realted to our beach bar trip or just a snap shot of that time in our life. On April 20th, we welcomed Kona in to our household. She is an 8 week old great dane and we're already in love. Not surprisingly, we've been thinking about a puppy for a while and we were brain storming names on one of our October beach bar trips. The name Kona came up and it just stuck. We're really looking forward to finding some bars where she can join us.

Bars 54-56: Cocoa Beach

Ryan: Should we have order a Category 4 or 5 Hurricane?
Sarah: We have 3 bars to hit today.
Ryan: Category 4 sounds good.

Bar 54: Sandbar Sports Grill
This is a fun place just off of the beach. The atmosphere is great and the staff is really friendly! A few even had on Ohio State jerseys. Our kind of place!

We started our Saturday with a Category 4 Hurricane and watching Wisconsin win at the Sandbar Sports Grill.



We also had the fish tacos which are one of their specialities. Yumm! We would definitely recommend them.

Bar 55: Captain J's Sky Deck

I wanted a Shark Bite drink but even though it was on the menu, they didn't serve it.  I settled for a Raspberry Vodka Lemonade. 

Overall a good place with a nice view but we have enjoyed other bars more.

Bar 56: The Beach Shack

We had a classic beach drink, Sex On The Beach, but it had watermelon schnapps in it.  Pretty interesting twist on a classic and it paid off.

October in Florida is a perfect time to go to the beach because the weather is comfortable and the beach isn't crowded.  Sarah will cheers to that :)



Bars 51-53: Port Canaveral

Ryan: Does this drink have carbonation in it?  I don't like carbonation and it tastes like it does.
Sarah: Let's see, the menu shows smirnoff strawberry vodka, kiwi liquor, and a blend of island pizzazz. 
Ryan: So yes, I guess it was the pizzazz.

Bar 51: Fishlips Waterfront Bar and Grill

We always love beach bar trips with family and friends.  For this trip, we were happy to have Sarah's parents and Aunt Laurie join us.

Sarah had a Kona Firerock Pale Ale.  Other drinks at the table were a Seven Tiki Rum and Ginger Ale as well as a Yeungling. 

Bar 52: Rusty's Seafood and Oyster Bar

Rusty's had a great view of the cruise ships about to sail away out of Port Canaveral.

We decided to try a little bit of a different "drink"  at Rusty's.  They served Atomic Cherries which were large, sweet cherries soaked for a month in Everclear. 

They definitely packed a punch.  I'm just glad we weren't breathing around any open flames.

Bar 53: Grills Tiki Bar

Aunt Laurie admires the boats and relaxes by the water.



Tiki Tango, Double "O", and a Kona Pale Ale

 Another great trip!

Bar 48-50 Venice and Osprey

It is more about the journey than the destination

We made the trip to Venice, one of our favorite places, with our good friends, and fellow beach bar competitors, Bri and Nate. It was an epic journey (okay not really, we spent the day relaxing on the beach like we ususally do at Venice) and at the conclusion we reached the milestone of completing our first 50 bars!

Bar 48: Casey Key Fish House
We got there at the tail end of some rain showers so we didn't spend too much time at the tiki bar outside but there were plent of people enjoying it.

 The atmosphere was laid back, like most of the beach bars we have visted, and it was right on the water which gave us a beautiful sunset to look at while we ate.

Bri and Nate at Casey Key Fish House 

 All in all it could easily become one of our favorite spots to visit when we make our trips to Venice.

Bar 49: Spanish Pointe Restaurant Pub
There is just something about Nate being behing the sign that makes me laugh. Ususally we're really good about looking out for those things but apparently not this time!

We got to the Spanish Pointe about an hour or so before they were closing and the place had a very relaxed feel to it.

 Beach bars with live music always rate a little bit higher in our book for that fact alone. The strolling guitarist at Spanish Pointe was no exception. He sang primarily Spanish songs and gave this place right on the water a bit of a Spanish feel that really wasn't there aside from the music.

We enjoyed our frozen drinks and the time we spent here. While it was dark when we were there, this would be a great place to visit to watch the sunset.

Bar 50- Sharky's on the Pier

Bar 50! Can you believe it?!? We almost can't! All of us had been to Sharky's previously, but this was our "official" visit for the challenge. It is set right on Venice beach with access to gorgeous sunsets. Since it was dark we had to settle for a happenin' night-life, delicious drinks and rockin' band!

Sarah with the Bait Bucket Margarita and Ryan with the Bushwacker


Celebrating Bar 50 with the fantastic staff at Sharky's!



 We danced a few songs and remembered  the last 50 bars growing increasingly excited about our journey until we realized we're only a quarter of the way there and still have a lot of amazing bars in front of us!



Here's to the next 150!

We took a small break from our beach bar challenge to enjoy a few drinks in a couple other well known locations....