A Wonderful Sanibel Wednesday

This afternoon, at access 1 off of West Gulf Drive, the beach was very deserted again. There is a cold front coming through that we thought might cause a little more wave action. But, that wasn't the case. The water was very calm and I couldn't see any shells coming in. There were some left at the high tide line, but not much of interest. It only got up to 87 degrees today and the humidity was much lower. It was quite comfortable out, and a welcome relief. The water temperature is also a little lower at 85 degrees. This is a great time of year, for those of us who don't own a business here.

As I was approaching the end of the path, leading to the beach, this Australian Pine (that's actually not a real pine or even related) tree got my attention because of the little spiny cones that had fallen all over the ground. They're very small, with none of them over an inch long. Considering the number of these, it's no wonder the trees had grown all over the island.

They are not native to the island and were brought here for use in erosion control along beaches, and as wind breakers. The Australian Pine Tree is now outlawed in many parts of Florida due to its invasive nature and rapid growth rate. They are a straight tree that can reach 70to 90 feet in height.

You may remember hearing a lot about these trees, after Hurricane Charley, five years ago. The Australian Pines, some nearly 60 feet tall, lined many of the streets. They did not do well in such strong wind and most of them fell, causing major damage to property and blocked nearly all of the streets. It took workers a long time to clear them all away. Many of the remaining Australian Pines were taken down to prevent future problems. Native trees have been planted in their place.

A beach nearly all to yourself. :-)

The tall trees you see, are Australian Pines.





OK shellers, do you see the one shell that I would have picked up?


That's right! You know me too well.


But, I know you will be shocked to find out that we found Jaws on the beach!


I got there too late to help crab guy. :-(


There was one nice auger laying all alone. It is among good company now.


As I was leaving, there was a very small sand pail laying near the access path. Some of you may have heard me say that I would prefer a Sanibel Sand Pail Funeral. So this made me wonder if ????? Do you think maybe someone else ??????

There were lots of these bushes with the red berries, along the path. I've been hunting for the name of it, but can't find anything that looks exactly like them. I'm sure it's a common one and one I should know. So I'll still be searching until I find out or someone tells me.

If you will notice, Bird left a comment saying that she thinks it is a coffee plant, and she's probably right.. I had found this article and thought I had found my answer, but because it mentioned the berries are round on one side and flat with a groove on the other, I decided I was might be wrong. Another question I have about the berries, is that the ones I saw were hanging in clusters and in the photos I found the coffee plants don't look like clusters of berries on a stem. They sure look alike otherwise. What do you think?

Blue Monday

The title is Blue Monday because the sky was a beautiful blue today and so was the water!

We had another heavy rain in the early morning again. This time 0.70". Going off-island this afternoon around 1:00, from the causeway I could see clouds coming from the direction of Ft Myers Beach. There were heavy rain warnings for up to 3", at the northern tip of Sanibel. The sky was a beautiful bright blue and the water looked dark blue today and was very calm.



Coming back to the island this evening, I could see huge white clouds heading toward the island again, and wondered if we would have more rain. But we had none on the east end.

There is supposed to be a cold front that will bring a little cooler temperatures and lower humidity. They are saying it will be in the 80's during the day and as low as 73 one night this week. Sounds good to me! :-) I should be mostly sunny until the weekend, when we will have a chance of rain again.

Sanibel Sunday Sunset

Very early this morning, during the night actually, we had quite a downpour of rain. There was water standing in deep puddles this morning. It seemed to me, that it was a little cooler today and this evening there was a wonderful seabreeze and a little bit lower humidity.

It was a perfect evening to drive out to causeway and watch the sunset. There were aleady a lot of cars on spoil island B, so we continued on to island A. There were also several cars there, also enjoying the view. That is until a lone kiteboarder, took it upon himself to zip back and forth with his kite dipping up and down over the trees, people and cars. Maybe it was humorous to watch people ducking because they thought his kite was going to hit them. I assume that he thought, we should be honored by his performance, such as it was, when all we wanted to do was watch the peaceful setting of the sun. Now I ask you, with a whole ocean out there, why would this person choose to use a short strip of water where 4 vehicles were parked and folks standing, camera in hand, looking at the sunset. Instead of continuing on his merry way, he would just keep turning and going back and forth directly in front of them. Normally it really is enjoyable to watch the kitboarders as they skim over the water, flying through the air and such. But, not this annoying guy. :-( Once again it just shows you that it takes all kinds to make a world.

That aside, the sunset was beautiful, even though it was difficult getting photos without 'kite guy' in them. :-)

Look carefully and you can see 'kite guy's' kite behind the palm tree, as he was preparing to take off. Looking toward Ft Myers.

Looking across the road, toward the Sanibel Lighthouse.



The cloud that looked like a Helmet Crab. (And 'kite guy's' kite. Grrrr!)

The sun as it is sinking behind the island of Captiva.



Best watched in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.

Turtle Happy On Sanibel

We've had pretty heavy rain at the eastern end of the island, for the last few evenings. It was sunny all day today with the high temperature reaching 90. The low last night was 76.

This evening there were no threatening clouds around, so it seemed a great time to head over to the beach. As I walked out to leave, I saw a beautiful hawk sitting on the deck railing. It sat up there looking down at me until I got the camera out and then it turned it's head. :-) Anywhere you look on this island, you can see wildlife.

When I walked out onto the beach, the first thing I noticed was the waves bringing in some shells.

There was hardly anyone on the beach.



I really didn't see any shells I wanted, but it was fun just looking at them.





It's nice to see how much the beach morning glory vines have grown. They not only provide colorful blossoms in the mornings, they also help keep the beach from eroding.

Resident access #5 is one of my favorites. I think walking the path out through the seagrapes is neat.




On the way back from the beach, on Casa Ybel Rd, I saw a huge land turtle walking beside the bike path. We had to stop, then walked back to get a closer look at it.
It was a gopher tortoise, the biggest land turtle I've ever seen. WOW!! Yes, 'Turtle Happy', that's me!

I've read that the gopher tortoise grows on average to be slightly less than one foot long and weighs about 29 pounds, though they have been found to be as big as 16 inches. This one had to be at least 16 inches. I'm sure it was well over a foot long.

This is one of the few tortoises that make large burrows, and there was an opening in the ground that was big enough for this turtle. When it saw us, it turned and started to move away, going under some vegetation. When I stood completely still, it came back out and walked right up to me, stood there looking at me for a minute and then turned and walked over to start eating some grass. I had heard that they graze on vegetation just like cows, but I was surprised to see it. This is one reason they are important to nature, they spread seeds.

They have front legs that are wide and flat,look like shovels or flippers and their back legs are shaped more like an elephants hind legs. The gopher tortoise reaches sexual maturity between 12 and 15 years of age, when their shells are about 9 inches long. So that means that this tortoise has been around for a long time.

There are a couple of things about the gopher tortoise that reminds me of the sea turtles. Their eggs are about the size of a ping pong ball, they incubate for about 80 to 90 days, The sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature of the sand or dirt where the nest is incubating, if the temperature is above 85° F, the tortoises hatchling will be females. Lower temperatures produce males. They nest between April and July, with the nests dug very close to their burrow openings, where usually 4 to 7 eggs are laid. Hatchlings are 1 to 2 inches long and grow about 3/4 inch a year. The young hatchlings often spend the first winter in their mother's burrow. The burrow that is dug by the gopher tortoise, is it's home, and vary in length from 6 to 30 feet, some are even longer. Depths are usually 3 to 20 feet. The burrows vary in shape, most are straight or have a slight curve.

Florida gopher tortoises are on the Endangered Species List, as a Threatened Species, because their current numbers are dropping, mostly due to loss of habitat. That must be why this turtle seemed so comfortable here on Sanibel Island, where it is well protected.

So.....you know who's going to be watching for the little gopher tortoise babies. :-) What an exciting end to a Sanibel Saturday!










Best viewed in HD on YouTube by clicking on the screen below.

Had to make a drive off-island this afternoon. The sky was a bright blue with some fluffy white clouds. The water was very calm. There were only a few people fishing on the spoil islands today. It's really peaceful around here now, in any direction you look. I love it!







There are still a lot of cabbage palms being planted on Summerlin.

This evening, at resident access 2 off of West Gulf Drive, the Beach was deserted except for one guy fishing and one beach umbrella near Mitchell's.

There were some small shells.

There were also lots of mangrove seed pods.





After leaving the beach, the rain clouds moved over the island again.



After the rain stopped, this was the scene from Pointe Santo beach just as the sun went down. You could still see some rain falling, way over in the west.

Sanibel On R&R

Today was another day of rest and recuperation for me, which made me think about the entire island being on R&R. Several of the restaurants have closed for a week or so, for cleaning and time off for the employees, during the slowest time of the year for tourism. It's amazingly peaceful here right now.

You should consider being a good friend to yourself, by suggesting you need some time off to revitalize and recharge. For me, there was no better place than Sanibel Island to accomplish that. You can walk, ride a bike or just lay back on the sand, nearly all alone, to enjoy some quiet time.

It is still hot here during mid-day. The temperature reached 93 again today, for a while, but with some wind, it didn't seem all that bad. The low tonight is to be around 77 again. There were thunderstorms forecast for all last week and 40% chance for each day this week. Luckily there was sunshine most days last week until evening. Hopefully that will be the case again for those few people here on vacation.

Late afternoon, there was a LOT of thunder and some threatening clouds, but it all passed right on by. What we did get, was another beautiful rainbow! If you enlarge the photo, you will also see the friendly neighborhood osprey. :-)

A Restful Day on the Island

I spent most of the day resting, the other part was spent sitting at the computer playing. I have to do this at least once a week, or I could risk loosing my 'Slacker' status.

This evening there was rain for awhile, which produced a beautiful rainbow. When I looked in the other direction there was blue sky and fluffy white clouds.



Later, we met friends at the Jacaranda for a dinner, birthday celebration. It was great fun and wonderful food. Everyone of the seven people, loved their food. All entrees included a house salad, choice of potato or rice and a home baked bread. Here are a few examples of the entrees...

Grilled Atlantic Salmon
Sauteed Lump Crab Cakes, served with honey mustard and plum sauces.

Fillet Mignon



We gave our meals, two thumbs up!