Monday Drive

It was 94 degrees here before mid-day. Seemed a little hot for the beach, so we put the top down on the little car and went for a drive. After riding for a while, we decided that it was too hot with the top down and we needed air-conditioning bad! Did we stop to put it up? No, we're just not wimpy like that. :) So, we suffered in silence with a smile on our faces.

I was happy because there were a lot of big clouds building and moving over from the mainland.


For those of you that haven't already seen these pictures and the fun we had with them on facebook, try to guess where we stopped to take these.






These Mangroves help keep the shore from washing away. Notice the trash at the bottom of the pic. More on that later.


It should be easy for you island visitors, but if you haven't already figured it out, you'll find the answer later.

The next two were taken as we passed over the bridge at Blind Pass.




The rest of the way home, we could still see clouds coming our way.


About an hour and a half after we got home, just before 5 PM, the wind got really strong and it started getting dark all around the island. The temperature quickly dropped to below 77 degrees. Yay! We drove to spoil island B on the causeway to get a better look at what was coming and to take pictures.

The sky was a very dark blue, in the distance behind the lighthouse, and it looked like it was probably raining along the beach, on that side of the island.


It was definitely raining in parts of Ft Myers and Ft Myers Beach. In the center of this picture, where the light spot shows against the dark sky, there was the beginning of a very wide rainbow, but it only lasted for a few seconds.


The clouds were totally awesome! But, I was getting sandblasted the entire time I was taking pictures. Ouch! I wonder if sandblasting would take wrinkles away? On second thought, I probably should have stayed longer. :)

This was the view across the Bay. I think Cape Coral and Pine Island must have had some wind and rain.


View across the Bay with clouds over part of Sanibel, Captiva and Pine Island.


Looking back toward the bridge span, just before the island.


It was very windy with gust up around 30mph. There is extreme wind noise in this video but that's just how it was. The view is over san Carlos Bay and Pine Island Sound.



View looking across the road, toward the lighthouse.


Looking toward Sanibel at the end of the causeway.


Looking in the direction of the toll booths.


From the other side of the road, looking toward the toll booths.


Looking over the San Carlos Bay toward the Gulf.


Remember I said I would talk more about the trash later. Well, it's later! While I was standing at the edge of the water, I looked down and this is what I saw in just this small space. As I walked a little in each direction, I counted over a dozen cigarette butts. GRRRRR!!!!


I'm sure that most of you have heard of different groups of people doing coastal cleanup. The International Coastal Ocean Conservancy Cleanup asks people to remove trash and debris from the world’s beaches and waterways, and to identify the sources of debris, so we can then try to change the behaviors that cause pollution. More than 350,000 people worldwide, spend a day cleaning up beaches and rivers in their areas. Each year, they pick up over seven million pounds of trash. (That's only in 1 day!) That number has been steadily increasing each year.

Now you'll see where I'm going with this. Smoking related items are at the very top of the list of top 10 trash items picked up. Can you just imagine how many are never picked up. Cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate tow, and they can take decades to degrade. The toxic residue in cigarette filters is damaging to the environment, as well.

1 24.7% Cigarettes/Cigarette Filters
2 10% Food Wrappers and Containers
3 9.1% Caps/Lids
4 9.0% Bags
5 7.4% Beverage Bottles (Plastic)
6 5.5% Beverage Bottles (Glass)
7 4.6% Cups/Plates/Forks/Knives/Spoons
8 4.5% Straw/Stirrers
9 4.3% Beverage Cans
10 2.4% Cigar Tips

I'm stepping down off my soapbox now, but I'm not over it!




Going back across the bridge to the island.


After all the clouds, wind, and nearly 5 hours later, we got a total of 0.04" of rain. I don't think we actually got even half that much on our street, because it only rained heavily for a couple of minutes. I just heard that parts of Ft Myers had 4". Oh well ... there's always tomorrow.

NOW......

Here's your ANSWER......