By Angela Higginbotham
angela@floridanewsline.com

Bob and Sarah Trunell met in 1989 while both were working on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. Sarah, a dancer, and Bob, a magician, have traveled the world while entertaining vacationers with their talents.

Bob grew up in Boston and later served in the United States Navy. He has been doing magic and comedy since he was 17 years old and he loves every minute of making an audience gasp. He moved to Jacksonville Beach in 1974 and made the area his permanent home. Bob flies to ports all over the world to join cruise ships and wow the guests with his tricks and illusions. He also makes himself available for local events.

Sarah spent her childhood growing up on the British Isles island of Jersey, located about 14 miles off the northern coast of France. She found her passion for dance at the young age of three and later studied at a performing arts college in London. Like her husband, her dance career has taken her all over the world entertaining others. Currently, Sarah serves as a director at Allstate Benefits — quite a change from her previous profession as a dancer, but she enjoys both the work and the people she works alongside.

The Trunnels created their own mini circus tour along the east coast and were married in 1992. They also headlined their own magic illusion show and have traveled to 70 countries sharing their passion. They retired the illusion show in 2010. Currently, the two enjoy living in the St. Johns subdivision of Wingfield Glen with their newly adopted dog, Luna.

 

Q: What do you enjoy most about living in St. Augustine?

Sarah: We both love our neighborhood. We enjoy being close enough to everything without being right in the middle of it all.

 

Q:  What inspired your passions for magic and dance?

Bob: I loved watching Canadian magician Doug Henning perform magic. He had several TV specials and a show on Broadway in the ‘70s. I also loved Johnny Carson and his sense of humor.

Sarah: My grandparents loved to dance and went out dancing almost every weekend. As a teenager, there was a TV show in the UK called “The Hot Shoe Show” with two lead dancers that I loved watching.

 

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

Sarah: We enjoy spending time with our friends. We love traveling and also staying home to enjoy our new backyard oasis. We enjoy this area and going to local restaurants.

 

Q: Bob, what is your favorite magic trick and are you still learning new acts?

Probably a metamorphosis trick by Henry Houdini. It usually gets the biggest reaction from the audience. And yes, I’m always looking for something to fit in the show. It keeps the juices flowing. It’s not really work for me and I’ll keep doing magic as long as I physically can.

 

Q: You’ve traveled to so many countries. Where have you enjoyed the food most?

Sarah: Well, you can’t beat Italy.

Bob: Maybe Vietnam? We like to go off the beaten path to find restaurants. Funny story about eating dinner in Barcelona. They don’t eat until 10 o’clock at night, so we walked into a restaurant at 7 p.m. and they looked at us like we were crazy.

Sarah: Yes, Vietnam. I can speak French and Spanish, but in many places we can’t communicate all that well, so something that we would do is just point to things on the menu and wait on the surprise of what we were getting. We’ve had some interesting meals.

 

Photo courtesy Bob and Sarah Trunell

Bob and Sarah Trunell

 

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