Sanibel Causeway Spoil Islands

Today I made a trip off-island again. Traveling on the causeway, made me think of the islands between the bridges, that are called spoil islands. (No, they don't look spoiled to me either!) I can remember back to a time when I wondered what that meant. So, just in case any of you people are from a part of the world, like I was, where such things don't exist; here's what I was told.

Spoil islands are created from dredged material that has been removed from the ocean. The dredged sediments are deposited in the water to create new islands or to add to existing natural islands.

The Sanibel Causeway spans San Carlos Bay and is nearly 3 miles long and includes two spoil islands which are operated by Lee County, as parks. The islands were originally built as part of the first causeway that opened in 1963. A new causeway was built using these same spoil islands and opened in 2007.

While the islands were originally built as a part of the causeway design, they have grown into a popular destination for beach-goers, fisherman, and on windy days, wind and kite surfers. Lee County is turning part of the old Sanibel Causeway into a fishing pier, very soon. The concrete pilings that were left for this purpose, make perfect perches for sea birds, until then. New landscaping for the islands is also coming soon!

Here's the scene, as I saw it today. The water was a pretty aquamarine color.
I've been noticing that someone has a hotdog stand set up on one of the islands now. A sign along side the road, advertises hot dogs, ice cream and sodas. You can see it in the photo below, in the center under the umbrella.
It's a sign of Spring Breakers and the busy season, when you can see parasailers in the air at Ft Myers Beach. I could see them from the causeway today. There were also a lot of fishing boats, in every direction you looked.

Sanibel's Lighthouse Beach Monday

I had to make the perilous crossing today for grocery shopping and a fast food fix. First before going onto the causeway, the traffic was backed up and at a stand still for a while. Gradually it began to move, very slowly. There had been a three car accident and the police were still there, but the cars were pulled over to the side, on the first island. It looked as though someone got rear-ended and then bumped a car that was in front of them. You think it was a 'texting' accident? There were LOTS of people fishing from the shore of the spoil islands today.

Made a stop at Lighthouse Beach late this afternoon. There were still a lot of people around enjoying the 80 degree, partly cloudy afternoon. The nice gentle waves are back today. The forecast says it will be partly cloudy the rest of this week, with the temperature staying around 78 to low 80's during the day. Should be a wonderful week for visitors. Although, I didn't see many shells on the beach today. A friend said that there were some, in spots on the beach, further west.

Sunday Rain

We had a much needed rain this morning, along with lots of thunder. Some parts of the island got 1/2", some 1" and hardly any, in a few areas. There was still a lot of wave action today. The temperature got as high as 77 and it is now 66. When I was out on the beach near West Wind Inn on West Gulf Drive this evening, it was pretty chilly from the NW wind. There were very few people out on the beach and I saw no shells, worth mentioning. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for shelling. :-)

Sanibel Saturday Wave Action

A cold front is still passing through, but our low temperature for today was 70 degrees and a high of 77. There was windy and the waves were much taller than the photos and videos, make them appear. The beach in front of Pointe Santo was eroding. There was a drop off in places of a foot or more. Tomorrow it is supposed to be a little cooler.

Sanibel Friday Frolic

I went over to Loggerhead Cay this afternoon, because my daughter is coming to the island week after next, and I wanted to check to see where the condo they will be staying in, is located. I have never stayed there and didn't know a lot about it. The property as a whole, looks very nice, clean and neat. I walked out by the pool and it is large and very nice, with plenty of chairs around to relax in. From there, I went out on the beach. That is when SHOCK set in! There were soooo many people, and in either direction you looked! Wow! There was a kite flying, which I saw a sea gull checking out and then flying around the kite string. I have no idea how many people were sitting and laying around, but at least half of them were sleeping with their mouths open. I guess you could call that relaxation after frolicking on the beach. ??? There were many people walking and some younger people out in the water, playing around in the waves. I think this is a very good example of why you would want to come to Sanibel in off-season. It really is nice to see people having so much fun, but it sure makes me appreciate the times when it isn't so 'merry'! :-) . But, this is just one of the nice things about living here, all the happiness makes you feel like you are on vacation too.





Sorry about the video moving around so quickly. I didn't mean to give anyone motion sickness, but I was in a hurry! :-)

Sanibel Thursday

I know you are probably tired of hearing about perfect days, but you guessed it, this was another one! :-) The high was 78 with SE wind.

I have photos taken on the beach, this evening, at resident access 1, off West Gulf Drive. Even though it was still around 70 degrees, the wind made it feel pretty chilly, and I didn't stay long. There were pretty large waves, because of a weak cold front passing through, but hardly any shells coming in. In the high tide line, I saw plenty of kitten paws, so I picked up a pocket full of those and went home, happy!





This one's for you Betsy! These are kitten paws. :-)

Kitten Paw Wednesday

Sanibel Island's shores have an abundance of seashells, collectors pick up mostly univalve and bivalve shells. And....just in case you don't know....

Univalves are a single spiral shell. The shape of the spiral varies with each animal. Most of them have a cover referred to as the operculum, that protects the animal when it is partially extended from the shell. Some common types of univalves are conchs, whelks, limpets, topshells, abalone, and cowries.

Bivalves are two-shelled mollusks that have strong muscles to hold their shells together. When those muscles relax, water enters the shell, bringing food and oxygen. The waste material is taken out as the water leaves the shell. Most bivalves live in the sand or mud and move by means of a foot. Some of the more common ones are clams, scallops, mussels, oysters, jingle shells and angel wings.

So, this is where my little kitten paws come into the picture. They are very common bivalve and can be found here in abundance. Its real name is Plicatula Gibbosa, but called Kitten's Paw by most collectors because they obviously resemble a kitten's paw. The shell is very thick and has several high ribs on both valves to help strengthen it. The shell is white with the ribs an orange or brown color or sometimes they are all white. They can be as large as 1 inch, but most I find are smaller. Two strong teeth in the upper valve fit into two holes in the bottom valve, which works as a hinge to hold it together. Kitten's Paws can be found from NC to the Caribbean. They live mostly attached to rocks and other shells.

Even though they seem to be everywhere on the beach, the little shells always get my attention. I find myself picking up a few, every now and then, just because. After looking around at the other shells I have in containers and such, I realize that I've failed to display any kitten's paws. So....I remedied that today. I placed each little kitten paw, one by one, into a glass sugar bowl. Now they have their own special place.

Sanibel Tuesday

Very nice and warm today with the temperature reaching 79. This evening on the west gulf beach, in front of Pointe Santo and Sanibel Cottages, the southeast wind was kind of chilly. There were small shells scattered on the beach and I saw no red drift algae there. There was a big starfish sand sculpture, in front of the Sanibel Cottages.

Taken in front of Sanibel Cottages. It was pretty windy and a little on the cool side . There were a lot of Sandpipers feeding and bathing.


I called today to ask about the laughing gull that we took to C.R.O.W. several days ago. You may remember the story about finding it. It didn't have any injuries that we could see, but they found that it's right wing and leg had been injured and that's why it can't fly. It is still in their care, receiving pain medication and they are optimistic that it will heal. We can call again next week for another update.

Blind Pass, Monday's Mission

This afternoon it was sunny, 78 degrees and windy; a perfect day for a mission. That mission was to check out the dredging project at Blind Pass again. After parking in the Sanibel parking area and walking across the bridge, I was surprised to see such a large amount of water in the containment cell. I took photos and have videos so that you can see for yourself how the water was piped into it and the way it was leaking back out. This is where they are holding the excavated material that is not suited for beach renourishment. That material will be trucked to an upland disposal area. One dredge was pretty far out in Wulfert Channel and the other dredge was next to the gulf shore. You can certainly tell the project is progressing. I checked the 'before' photos of Wulfert Channel and even though I remembered what it looked like at that time, it is still shocking to think of how much sand has already been moved. I even saw a fish jump out of the water, while I was standing on the bridge. :-)











This is the Gulf side with the containment area. The sand that is being pumped into this area is deemed not suitable to be released into the Gulf.


This is the bay side of he Blind Pass dredging project.


This is Turner Beach on Captiva, just over the Blind Pass Bridge. The water was really clear and the beach was empty.


After getting back from Blind Pass, it was around 4:00 and time for the Sanibel Grill to open. Made a stop there for early dinner,and Happy Hour prices. :-) They have the best steak quesadillas! For those who don't know, this is a sports bar, with TVs all around.

Soon after arriving, I saw a news alert that there was a grass fire on Sanibel Island, they were showing clouds of smoke in the sky over the island. What a surprise, since just driving past that area and seeing no smoke at all. Evidently a fire was started from the exhaust of a pickup truck when it was driven into a restricted,15 acre open field, called Sanibel Gardens, owned by Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge, the city of Sanibel and the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation. The vegetation is very dry here now, and it was windy today, which caused the fire to spread quickly. There were a few homes near the area, but firefighters got the fire under control before causing them damage. I wouldn't want to be the driver of that pick-up right now.

So, that's about all the excitement I can handle for one day.

Sunday Sunset

After spending some time with friends at the West Wind Inn Pool Bar this evening, some of us went on to resident access 5, to watch the sunset. There were some fluffy clouds that made it look very pretty tonight. A cold front is passing through, but it was still pleasantly warm today. By late evening the wind was getting a little chilly for me. I know you people up north don't want to hear that. :-) Sorry.

By the way, there was red drift algae at West Wind Beach area that reached several feet out into the water, but just a little further west, there was none.


When at West Wind Inn, I could see clouds a little further west and had a feeling the sunset would be very nice tonight. This is how the sky looked as I walked out onto the beach. You couldn't see the sun. Then a little later it began to peak between clouds and eventually it went below the clouds and sliped out of sight.












The sky had a nice pink glow after the sunset.

Sunny Sanibel Saturday

The low temp last night was 61 and the high today, 81. The sun, sand and sea were calling me to the beach, but the wind tied my hair in knots! :-) I'm pretty sure I looked like a mess while I was there, because I scared myself when I got back and passed a mirror. I walked quite a distance, before turning around to go back. Then I got a phone call from daughter #2, who always gets envious when she can hear waves splashing in the background. I listened to all the details of a big project (about 45 minutes) that her two children are involved in, which makes me a very proud grand mother. I may have to share that here, one day soon. Anyway, I totally lost track of time while talking and picking up jingles and kitten paws, and watching Sanderlings scamper back and forth. I did take a few photos and a video. One photo is of a cute mermaid sand sculpture I saw as I left the beach at access 7. It was another peaceful and beautiful day in paradise.

Sanibel Friday

This evening was spent with friends at the West Wind Pool Bar for Happy Hour. While there, I noticed a HUGE bunch of gulls flying around that area of the beach. I walked out there to take a look. The gulls were circling all around over the water and then back to land on the beach again. I'm guessing that they were shopping for dinner, as were two Laughing Gulls that landed on the beach near me. One of them had a skinny little fish in it's mouth, about 6" long. They stayed until their dinner was gone and then flew away. Also during this time, I saw about a dozen dolphin swim past. It seems evening is a great time to watch the feeding frenzy that goes on. It was 83 today, but by evening it was around 75 and breezy. A great time to be out and I'm planning to hear a Reggae band that is playing tonight.









What I was focusing on so long, was a swarm of gulls out over the water, some diving for fish, and then flying back to land on the shore. Because of their color and being a little way from me, you can't see them. :-( Hopefully on YouTube and viewing it a little larger, you may be able to.



I forgot to mention that a couple of nights ago, there was a Laughing Gull walking in the street. After getting it off the road, we went on our way. A few minutes later, passing the same spot, the bird came running toward our headlights again. This time it was obvious that it couldn't fly. So, after chasing it down and covering it with a towel, we carried it with us. The next morning when C.R.O.W. opened we took it there. It looked perfectly healthy, and you couldn't see any injuries, but the veternarian said obviously something was wrong or we wouldn't have been able to catch it. We are going to call there tomorrow to find out how it is. It was a very beautiful bird.

Shopping & Sunset Thursday

We got a surprise rain last night, which was great, since we need it badly. But, it was back to sunshine and 81 degrees today. We're supposed to have cooler weather for the weekend; with around 75 degrees tomorrow.

The drive across the causeway today was nice. There were some pretty white clouds floating overhead and the water was pretty calm. Many people were sun worshiping, fishing and picnicking on the causeway islands.

Going by the toll booths, I noticed some of the newly planted royal palm trees that I mentioned a few weeks ago, are indeed missing now. They were talking about it on the news last night. They have dug up over 40 palms, that cost over a thousand dollars each, at the causeway entrance that have died. It isn't known what caused the trees to die, but they and the soil are being tested to determine the reason. For the first year, the contractor cares for the trees, so hopefully they will replace them soon. The causeway islands are due for landscaping during the next couple of months. I can't wait to see that finished.

After lots of waiting at traffic lights, and several stops for shopping in Ft Myers, I was ready to head back to the island on 'The Happy Lane', just in time to watch a beautiful sunset on a west gulf beach by resident access 2.















Enjoy the sunset.....