A Lazy Sanibel Sunday

Today we had some rain showers until noon. It was sunny and very warm this afternoon. We went out to the Sunset Grill for brunch with a friend and then went over to Blind Pass.

This was the view as we walked through the parking lot of the Sunset Grill, looking toward the Gulf.


This is the first time I have been to the Sunset Grill, as I looked at their breakfast and lunch menu, I thought the prices were a bit higher than most of the places i frequent. But, my French Toast, Crisp Bacon and Coffee were very good and worth the price. :-)

View from the bridge, looking down at the pass, toward the Gulf.

The water where the guys are standing with the boogie boards was pretty shallow. They were standing up.

View of the clouds from Turner Beach.

View from the rock jetty looking over the pass toward Sanibel.

By taking a close look, some of you may recognise this militant sheller. :-)


View from the Blind Pass bridge, toward the Bay.


This video is taken from the seawall on the Turner Beach side on Captiva.

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Early Evening At Pointe Santo De Sanibel

We had showers off and on, part of the day. This afternoon we went to Pointe Santo de Sanibel to check on some friends' condos. It was pretty quiet there, as school has started and vacation season has ended. The beach was really deserted. This is a perfect time for a visit to Sanibel. There is a much more relaxing atmosphere here now, than during season. Today's high temperature was 90 and the water in the Gulf is 89. The grass was wet from the earlier rain, and this caused the noseeums to be even worse than usual.

There were not a lot of shells.




I think this has to be one of the most interesting things I've found on the beach. A corncob pipe. ???? I have to wonder if it was lost by a melting snowman. :-)


These are the only things I picked up to carry home.



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McT's On A Sanibel Friday

For many years McT's Shrimp House and Tavern was considered, by many, to be one of their favorite Sanibel Island restaurants. But the past few years, it seemed to me that the food quality had declined, and after a couple of bad experiences, I had decided not to go there anymore.

A few weeks ago a new manager took over McT's. He has made many changes, such as food quality, cleanliness, new menu and lower prices. They have also added a few more pieces of shrimp, etc. His goal is to make McT's the place it was known to be in the past, and to bring all of the old customers back again along with new.

We went there this evening to give it another go. I am very glad we did. Those at our table, ordered a variety of foods and we were all very pleased. I could tell a definite change in the quality of the food I ordered. I also think they have the best bread on the island. Our server, gave us excellent service and the manager made more than one trip to our table to get our opinion on the improvements and the make sure we were pleased with our food. I can honestly say that we are looking forward to going back.

If you are on the island or coming back soon, be sure to stop by McT's and try it yourself. If you are not happy with your experience, the manager's name is Brian. Be sure to let him know if you give it a thumbs up, or down. :-)

This guy was sure enjoying his King Crab legs. The order was for a pound, but it certainly looked more like two pounds, and he said they were great!
As we left McT's, the clouds looked interesting, which made me want to watch the sunset. We stopped at the first causeway island and saw a pink cotton candy show as the sun was going down.


A bright pink cloud was hanging over the lighthouse.






View on the way back to the island.

Blind Pass Fishing, Anyone?

Most of you that come to my blog, are very familiar with Sanibel and Captiva. But, there may be some of you who don't know that Sanibel & Captiva were separated by a channel of water that connected the bay with the gulf. This area, called Blind Pass was known as a popular shelling and fishing spot. In the 90's the pass began to fill with sand and over time, closed completely. As the water flow from bay to gulf diminished, the local environment started to deteriorate and the game fishing became poor. An attempt was made to dredge an opening through the sand, but the pass filled in again in only a few days. In 2008 another much more involved restoration process began, by dredging Blind Pass, Wulfert Channel and portions of Roosevelt Channel. There is also a long term maintenance program planned.

Blind Pass is open with water flowing through it once again, and I am guessing that the game fish may be returning, because the banks of the pass were lined with fishermen today. By the time this video was taken, the threatening clouds had already sent most of them away. But, I think it is safe to say that if all goes according to plan, the entire ecosystem will benefit from this re-opening.

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Rainy Wednesday

No time spent at the beach today. It was sunny off and on, but we got nearly an inch of rain throughout the day. Low temperature was 76 and the high was 94. Late this evening, when I saw some sun peaking through the clouds again, I went out to check for rainbows and sure enough, there was one.

Turtle Walk Tuesday

Today was our 17th and final turtle walk of the season. We only have 1 nest left in our zone that is due and should be hatched and dug by next week. I believe there are 10 nests left in the area from the eastern tip of Sanibel to the Tarpon Bay Beach. From there to the West end of Sanibel is monitored by SCCF, using their beach vehicle. There are nests still to hatch in that area. I will put the statistics for the 2009 turtle season on my Turtle Talk blog, as soon as it's available.

It was about 75 degrees this morning when we did our walk but it got up to 93 later in the day. We had afternoon thunder storms that brough us a little more than a half inch of rain. There is a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain each day for the rest of the week.

There was a pink glow in the east this morning as we walked out to the beach.

An osprey was standing watch at the top of a tree.

There was hardly anyone on the beach for a while.

Gradually people began coming out onto the beach to walk under the pink cotton candy clouds, waiting for the sunrise.

It was so quiet and peaceful out, even the birds seemed relaxed and in no hurry to fly away.

It took a while to see the sun, because it had to climb up from behind clouds.

The only shells were small ones.

This bird seemed to be taking a rest, and just sat there watching me as I took it's picture.



Just before leaving the beach, there was an area at the high tide line, where some sea weed was lying beside a little pool of water that had been left. I spied a Bubble shell and as I bent over to pick it up, I saw a couple more, then a few more. After picking them up, I moved a little more of the sea weed and saw two Top shells, some Apple Murex, a Nutmeg, Augers, Drills, a couple of Whelks, Shark's Eyes and Top shells. Then I saw four, tiny white Wentletraps. I got distracted for a moment and looked away. When I looked back, I could only find two of them. I looked and looked and never could spot the other two again. But, I was content with my handful of shells. :-)

I'm pleased to say that there was hardly any trash on the beach this morning, and no new sand holes.

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Late afternoon driving down Highway 41, in Ft Myers, the clouds were looking pretty threatening. After getting to a parking lot that was located right under the darkest part of those clouds, and going into a store, I think the bottom must have fallen out of them. It really poured down.

On the way back to the island, from the causeway, I could see heavy rain falling on Captiva.

An Angel Over The Bay

The nights are beginning to cool down a little, which is very nice. Last night the temperature got down to 78 and back up to 91 today. I didn't think it felt that warm, probably because of the wind. We had around a quarter inch of rain during the day. Big white fluffy clouds were hanging around all afternoon and bright sunshine.

I was out running some errands and after seeing the beautiful clouds, I drove to the end of Dixie Beach Road to get a better look at the clouds that were hanging over the bay.

If you enlarge this photo, you might be able to see the big white angel, that is standing watch over the bay. Her arms and wings are spread as she looks down. If you look carefully, you can even see facial features and her curly white hair is pulled high up on the back of her head.


I looked outside this evening and saw 3 big rainbows all at one time, over in the direction of Ft Myers Beach. That and the clouds made me think it would be a very nice sunset, but it wasn't spectacular from the Sanibel Causeway, so I didn't wait for the sun to go down. There was also a problem with noseeums late this evening.

After reaching the causeway, there was only one part of a rainbow left.

I was totally startled when a Great Blue Heron flew right past my head, as it came in for a landing. With it's wide wing span, stirring the air, I felt my hair blowing as it passed by.





And, another day ends on Sanibel......

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The Day My Mouse Died on Sanibel

I guess you could safely say that I killed my mouse this morning. That meant making a drive over the Sanibel Causeway to Ft Myers to purchase another one. As it turned out, the 'mouse store' was right by the Steak and Shake. Don't they say, 'when life gives you lemons, turn it into lemonade'? :-)

View looking from the bridge toward the Sanibel Lighthouse.


There was some kitesurfing going on. The bright colors of the kites looked nice against the bright blue sky.






Made it to resident access 2, just as the sun went down. The sky was still very pretty anyway. The temperature today had reached 91 for a while, but out on the beach there was wind blowing and it was perfect. The water has cooled off a little and is 87 degrees.



There were not many shells this evening.

You can see an example of how the sea oats' roots help hold the sand.



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