Today was a beautiful Sanibel day. While I was out running errands, I saw a large iguana. It was standing beside the street, eating something. It stood quite still for this quick photo shoot, and then walked away and into the mangroves. It was over 4 foot, the first time I've seen one that long. I think we can live in the same area as long as he stays on his side of the street. :-) It should be happy that it's brown and not a Green Iguana or Nile Monitor Lizard, because hundreds of those have been removed from the island in the past few years, because they are an invasive species.
I am going to be away for a few days, but should be blogging again on Monday. I hope all of you have a great weekend!
Thank you so much for the messages from those of you who were concerned about me. I am feeling a little better today. No, I haven't had the flu, thank goodness! I've been having a lot of pain in my neck, shoulder and hip caused by arthritis. This is the first time, since I moved to Sanibel, that I have had a flare-up like this. I had attributed the lack of arthritis pain to the warm temperature and sunshine, so I guess I need to get more sunshine. :-)
I have quite a few photos that have been given to me by someone here on vacation, and I will share those with you soon.
Last night we had dinner with friends at McT's for a birthday celebration. The place was looking quite festive with Halloween decorations. The special was a Florida Lobster Tail Dinner for $20, which included a choice of potato, salad and bread. It was given two thumbs up by everyone in our party. The new manager seems to have made lots of improvements! This place has become a favorite. If you haven't tried it recently, you really should.
Went for a drive to Captiva this afternoon. Since the rainy season this year, I have noticed such a change in the vegetation, along SanibelCaptiva Rd. The canopy over the road is beginning to come back again in several places. The new trees that were planted after Hurricane Charley, are now blending in with the rest. I think it's a beautiful drive, once again.
Stopping at Tween Waters Inn, I noticed that they are getting their decorations up, in preparation for their annual Halloween party.
The parking area on the Captiva side of Blind Pass is open once again. This photo was taken on the fly, but you can see cars parked there. I saw several fishermen in the area. I've heard they have been having good luck. :-)
Some of my evening was spent just looking up at the Sanibel sky. :-)
I haven't been feeling very well this week, so I have just relaxed and enjoyed visiting with our house guests. They have had some very nice days on the beach, with the weather being the best, since summer began. The day time temperatures have been in the mid 80's and up to 90 yesterday afternoon for a short while. It has been sunny and very breezy. The best thing about the week, was two days of good shelling. They weren't the best shells ever, but they were very plentiful.
Since I haven't been to the beach myself, my friends have shared pictures taken while they were on the beach, off West Gulf Drive. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I have. There are some beautiful shots of the beach during the good shelling days and sunsets. They are, no doubt, the next best thing to being there.
One of the catches is below. Another catch was a 3 ft hammerhead shark, I'll try to get a photo of it to post, as well.
We have a cold front on the way and the surf is starting to pick up. It was still hot today but is supposed to start to cool down tonight and be around 82 tomorrow. Hopefully the next few days there will be lower temps and humidity.
Spent some time again this afternoon on Captiva island, and after spending a little time on the beach, walked up to the Mucky Duck. If you visit Sanibel and Captiva Islands, you may want to make a stop, at what the locals call 'The Duck'.
The Mucky Duck is located on Captiva Island, at the end of Andy Rosse Lane, and is right on the beach. The Duck is a pub-style restaurant with large windows facing the water. It's a fun place to eat, with a great sunset view. You can eat inside or outside where you can also enjoy the sea breeze. If you aren't in the mood for a meal, you can go inside to get drinks or maybe some boiled shrimp & beer, to help you unwind, as the setting sun ends another perfect day.
Some pretty nice size waves today.
I saw no shells coming in. There were just a few small shells left at the high tide line.
Tonight dinner was shared with friends, first at the Sanibel Grill for appetizers and then on to McT's for, undoubtedly the best meal I've had on this island for a long time. Now don't get me wrong, I still have to say that The Timbers has always been my favorite place on the island to eat, for price and quality. But, I'm thinking that after the meal I had tonight, McT's may quickly move onto the top of my favorite list. They are having what they call a 'Crazy Crustacean Celebration through the whole month of October. Their Shrimp Entrees are $15 all month and there is a nightly special, which was $20 for a one pound Stone Crab Dinner. I noticed that some of the other nightly specials include, $20 all you can eat Snow Crab, $20 Florida Lobster Tail, $15 Maine Lobster Dinner, $15 all you can eat Rock Shrimp, $20 one pound King Crab, $15 Crab Cake Dinner, $15 all you can eat Peel 'n Eat Shrimp, etc., etc. I brought home an October calendar with all the specials listed, so we can plan the nights we want to go back. If you're here and want to know what the dinner special is, you could call
At those prices, you would expect to get average quality seafood, at best, but what we had was excellent! I usually take photos of my plate for the blog, as soon as the server puts it on the table. But, tonight it looked so good, I dove right in and didn't think about photos until we were finished. I only thought of it when we were laughing at the four piles of shells we had left on the table. I had a dinner salad, shrimp, baked potato and hot bread. The best shrimp I've had on the island. The others had Snow Crab Legs and Stone Crab Claws. By the way they were smacking their lips and asking for more, I'm sure they enjoyed their food, as well. It most probably won't be a good thing for us, but there is no doubt their season is starting off with a bang. I just hope we won't have to wait in line. Now that I think about it, since I was kind enough to tell you, maybe you would let me cut in front of you???? If you are here and want to find out what the specials are, just give them a call at 239-472-3161.
This is not a very appetizing view, but I'm sure you'll get the idea. The platter was licked clean. :-)
Last night the low temperature was 74 degrees, the high today was 90, with blue skies and sunshine. The forecast for tonight is 72 and 88 tomorrow. I like the gradual dropping temperatures.
I was at Pointe Santo de Sanibel this afternoon and walked on the beach. There were not many people there, not many shells either. :-( It was very pleasant with the temperature already down to mid 80's and a strong breeze.
I've begun to notice a slight increase in traffic on the island. This week there have been lights on in homes that had been dark for a few months, a sure sign that snowbird migration has begun.
If you will be on island during the next few days, you may be interested in the Traffic Advisory issued today:
Due to the F.I.S.H. (Friends in Service Here) 10K race beginning at 7:30 a.m., Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Sanibel Community Association, traffic delays can be expected along Periwinkle Way from Tarpon Bay Road east to Casa Ybel Road, Middle Gulf Drive, Algier's Lane, and Island Inn Road.
*Periwinkle Way from Tarpon Bay Road to Casa Ybel Road will be closed from 7:15 a.m. to 8 a.m.
*Tarpon Bay Road will be closed from West Gulf Drive to Periwinkle Way from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Intermittent closures will occur at Casa Ybel Road and Middle Gulf Drive, Casa Ybel Road and Algiers Lane as well as Tarpon Bay Road and Island Inn Road from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
MOTORISTS ARE ADVISED TO BE ALERT FOR RUNNERS CROSSING THE ROADWAY IN THESE AREAS AND SHOULD EXPECT DELAYS. PLEASE PLAN YOUR TRAVEL ACCORDINGLY.
SHARED USE PATH REPAIR:
Beginning Monday, October 19th, the City of Sanibel's contractor, Gulf Paving, will begin the scheduled asphalt repairs to the Shared Use Path running parallel to Rabbit Road. The work is expected to take approximately two weeks to complete.
The section of Shared Use Path from the north end of Surf Sound Ct heading north to Sanibel-Captiva Rd. will be closed to all traffic during the repairs. All path users are alerted to use due caution while navigating around the construction areas.
We had another 91 degree day and plenty of sun. It was a great day for a drive out to Captiva, and a stop at Tween Waters Inn, for their Prime Rib Special at the Crow's Nest. Their sign, out front, drew us in. It was very good. By the way, for any of you coming to the island soon, the Monday night crab races will be starting again next week at the Crow's Nest.
Last year we got a SCCF Member Update saying that a colony of Curly-Tailed lizards had established itself on Captiva. They are an invasive species from the Bahamas. It is believed that they arrived in landscaping plants trucked in after Hurricane Charley. They are also known to be in other areas of Florida where plant nurseries are located. At the time of that update, there was hope they could be eradicated and if not, we could expect them on Sanibel in a few years. I have not heard if they have been seen on Sanibel since that time, but I have not personally seen any here. I can tell you that they are still alive and well on Captiva, because while walking up the steps to the Crow's Nest at Tween Waters, I counted 10 of them that were quite frisky. One of them was kind enough to stop for a second to have it's picture taken. Notice that little curly tail.
After dinner we went across the street and out to the beach.
There weren't many shells on the beach.
If you go to Tween Waters Inn, be sure to look around at the different kinds of palm trees they have growing there. The one below is a Bottle Palm.
As we began driving up the road, I could see sun rays shining out from the clouds. That made a beautiful end to a beautiful day.
Our low temperature was 78 last night and back up to 93 today and sunny. I took a few photos on the return trip to the island, from dinner overseas. The quality is bad because they were taken while driving across the Sanibel Causeway. But, they are good enough for you to see just how calm the water was. I had just missed the sunset, but the sky was still very pretty colors. There was a big, dark cloud over the Pine Island area that had rain pouring down from it.
You probably don't check on my Treasures of the Sea blog frequently. So, I just want to mention that I posted a link on it, to some very beautiful miniature shell crafting and also a story about Florida's Hidden House of Shells. Go take a look!
It was a nice day to be here on the island, even though I didn't do much but rest. This evening I went out to a causeway island to check out the sunset. It didn't look like it was going to be that great, so I took one photo of of the clouds, as I looked toward the Sanibel lighthouse, then went back to make a stop at the for a few things at Bailey's grocery store. When I came back out, there were a lot of pink cotton candy clouds. I should have stayed for the sunset after all.
Tonight, a friend told me that they were on the beach around resident access 7, off West Gulf Drive this evening, when they saw an upside down rainbow. They had never seen one before, or heard of one. Neither had I, so I had to research to find out if such a thing does happen and why. And.....yes, they do. The correct scientific term for it is a circumzenithal arc. It is caused by sunlight shining through a thin, invisible screen of tiny ice crystals high in the sky and has nothing at all to do with rain. It is a very unusual phenomenon and not really a rainbow. I wish I could have seen it.
She also told me that she has hardly found any shells this week to take home. The shells seem to be a little scarce right now. Conditions just haven't been to favorable.
It was a hot and humid day here on Sanibel, with the temperature reaching 95. There was a breeze, which helped a lot.
By waiting until late evening, it was not too hot on the beach. There were hardly any shells coming in, only some left at the high tide line that had been there for a while.
There wasn't anyone else near the resident 1 beach access, so it was very nice to relax for a while.
This piece of a tree trunk has been here for quite a while now. I've seen it get covered up with sand and uncovered again, several times. It is worn smooth. Maybe it's been rolling around in the the sea water and sand, since Hurricane Charley.
I usually ask you to look for the treasure, but this time you couldn't call it that.
If you'll enlarge the photo, you will see doggie doo mixed in with the shells. That would be, because some very bad person just kicked shells over the top of it, instead of cleaning up after their dog. Now, since enquiring minds want to know......it is uncovered because I was walking along looking at shells and just kicked them around a little to see if i might be missing a treasure underneath. Thank goodness I wasn't using my hands, as I usually do. Whoever is responsible for this should be ashamed of themselves. This kind of behavior will eventually ruin the priveledge of taking dogs on the Sanibel beaches. I don't think there are many places left where you can. I guess this is one of the reasons why.
I am a retired, grandmother who is living a dream in this tropical paradise, called Sanibel Island.
My blog was created to share some of the beauty I see around me each day. This tranquil place is a haven for wildlife and the natural beaches are spectacular. I will post pictures now and then, that I snap quickly with my cellphone.
Since I am on 'Island Time' and consider myself to be a 'Slacker', my posts may not be on a regular basis. But,I hope you enjoy sharing some of what I am blessed with and come back to visit often.
