Watersports business relocates in Sarasota County

With Sarasota County buying the Stickney Point property where longtime tenant Siesta Key Watersports had been based for 20 years, in a yellow lighthouse, the business has relocated. Its new spot is at 5253 S. Tamiami Trail, with water access along Phillippi Creek.

The move was not a simple one, the owners say, requiring teamwork and logistical planning.

Siesta Key Watersports provides parasailing, dolphin tours, sunset cruises, jet ski rentals and sandbar cruises. It employs about 20 people and serves approximately 50,000 guests a year.

“For inspected passenger vessels, this is not as simple as going out and renting a marina slip somewhere,” Shawn Fontana, co-owner of Siesta Key Watersports, says in a statement about the relocation.

“A dock slip alone does not create a lawful operating business,” Fontana says. “You need appropriate zoning compatibility, commercial permissions, navigational access, bridge clearance, dredging depth, customer pickup rights, parking logistics, Coast Guard operational compatibility and the ability to safely load and unload passengers.”

Since Sarasota County commissioners approved financing to acquire the Boatyard property in early May, Siesta Key Watersports has been working to relocate its boats and operations from Stickney Point Road to its new location, just north of the Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar. As of May 15, the business is based within a plaza alongside tenants Baird Private Wealth Management and Cadillac Jack's Honky Tonk Saloon. The Leather Gallery and Bedding Center is closing its store in the same center.

Siesta Key Watersports is sharing its storefront and water access points with Siesta Key Aqua Adventures in the retail plaza.

Photo by Elizabeth King

While the new location supports some operations, the owners say that the space does not meet all of their needs.

“This new location does not currently accommodate our parasail vessels or our 49-passenger tour boat for direct customer pickup operations,” Ben Marchand, co-owner of Siesta Key Watersports, says in the statement. “But we are figuring it out. We can utilize our Coast Guard-approved shuttle transfer operations and secure overnight dockage for portions of the fleet.”

Officials say they are planning to have a grand opening and to add Siesta Key Watersports signage at the 5253 S. Tamiami Trail location.

No matter what, Marchand says, the family-owned business will continue to operate.

“We are not going anywhere,” Marchand says. “We love Sarasota. We love Siesta Key. We love what we do."