Hello Everyone!

I thought I would make an attempt at catching up a little.  We have had visitors coming and going constantly and other things going on, plus a few health issues mixed in.  The island has still remained very busy, even after the normal season was over.  I've heard that the amount of tourists is expected to drop off a little due to school starting again.  We could certainly use a break.  Even business owners that normally take a vacation during this time of year, have not been able to do so yet.

One fun thing that happened was our 7 member team won the Road Rally this year!  We've done it every year since moving here, and this year we got lucky!

         

The Sanibel Captiva Optimist Club puts on this very entertaining event each year on the 4th of July.  It is tremendously fun, so you should plan a visit to take part sometime!

Since today is National Lighthouse and Lighthouse Preservation Day , that prompted me to share some cool photos of our Sanibel Lighthouse during refurbishment that began at the end of June and planned to be completed during the month of September.

We were driving across the Sanibel Causeway on July 13th, and noticed the lighthouse looked a little strange.  From that distance it looked sort of like a lighthouse with an enclosed base.  It peaked my curiosity, so we drove there and took photos.  It was uncovered again a week later.

In the U.S., skeletal lighthouses, like the one at Sanibel, became popular with our government because the cost was less than half the price of a stone or brick tower.  They were assembled from prefabricated sections and taken to the location to be assembled.  The first onshore skeletal lighthouses in the U.S. were built in 1861.  There is an interesting story about our lighthouse.  It was fabricated in the north and then shipped to Sanibel.  The ship sank just two miles from shore, but the crew, with help from divers, were able to recover nearly all of the pieces.  Sanibel Lighthouse was erected in 1884. 

 You can read more about the Sanibel Lighthouse here.

As usual, the Summer months have brought lots of beautiful clouds, plenty of rain, rainbows, sun rays and sunsets!

I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to help with sea turtle nesting program this year, I was willing, but my feet were not.  There are a large number of nests here on Sanibel and Captiva this year, a total of 471 at this time, and 71 hatches.  Some got washed over with extra high tides from Tropical Storm Andrea, but many are hatching.  Most of the nests here are Loggerheads, but this year has set a record for Green sea turtle nests, 7 here and 2 on Captiva. 

In case you are wondering, the critters in our home are doing quite well.  Puffin has become quite studious, that is, when he isn't scattering toys all over the house or laying around sleeping, which is most of the time.

The parrots, Lexis and Lotus, are also helping keep us entertained. 

I hope all of you are doing well!  

Relief After Isaac Decides Not To Visit

For two days we prepared for a visit from Tropical Storm Isaac.  He was making tracks straight for us. State of Emergency and Mandatory Evacuation was being talked about.  We decided we were not leaving so everything we thought might be needed was taken care of.  I cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer because it was almost certain we would loose power.  We were even invited to a 'Clean Your Freezer Out Party".  Several people cooked everything they had in their freezer and it was very good, and lots of fun.

Then after Isaac passed Cuba, he gradually headed out into the Gulf further away from us.  What a huge relief.  The worst weather for us was some wind, rain and high tidal surges.  

These photos are from a drive out onto the Sanibel Causeway today in the early afternoon.  It was VERY windy out there.

The high tide was around 9 this morning, and even though it had gone down a  lot by this time, there was still water splashing into the road, just as you go onto the tallest bridge.  There is a lane that goes around under the bridge to turn around to return back to the island.  That lane was closed.

I haven't talked to anyone to know exactly how high the tide came up on the causeway islands, but from the debris left, it appeared to have been pretty near the roadway in some places.

There were oyster shells washed up all over the beach areas.

In this photo we are driving back toward Sanibel 

and the Gulf is on the left.

Stopped by the Sanibel Marina again and noticed water was still covering over the walkways of the boat slips.

Plywood was off Grandma Dot's, 

so they must be getting ready for business again.

Our next stop was at the Lighthouse Beach.  The road to the lighthouse was closed due to high tide.  The parking area at the beach had a lot of cars there and a few people walking in the edge of the water, which was still right next to the dune area.  These people were letting a couple of kids play way out in the water in the big waves.  No way would I do that.  I was on the beach in the West Gulf area a couple of years ago when a boy got bit on the leg by a shark in these same kind of water conditions. I was told that the shark probably saw the leg move and may have thought it was a fish.  The big waves churning up the sand probably makes it difficult, if not impossible for them to see well.  I would be afraid of undertow as well.

The water had been up really high on the boardwalks, 

and water was still standing in the dunes.

Next stop Nerita Street Access.

Sadly, I'm pretty sure the remaining sea turtle nests

 are all washed over and will not hatch.

Poor turtles have sure had a rough season.

A stop by Pointe Santo de Sanibel Condos.

 The tide had been up to the grass here.

The lagoon was quite full.

Maybe somebody dumped their extra shells and ran. :)

There were some shells here, in places, 

but mostly little broken pieces.

 There were little baby coconuts scattered on the ground.

We drove on to Resident Access 5 for a shell check. :)

There were some scattered up in the dunes, 

where the high tide had gone, but almost all white ark shells.

 Ah, ha! This looked promising.  But only in this one area.  

These were all small and a lot of broken shells.

 This is all I picked up.  Maybe there will be more later, at low tide.

From there, we drove out to Blind Pass.

Stopped on the Sanibel side first, and saw nothing there.

 A few little crumbs in the dunes.

The sandbars were not exposed.

This is on the Captiva side of the pass.

Saw no shells here either.  There were several 

guys with surf boards there.

I wanted to see if the big drop off was still in front of the Mucky Duck.  I just took a quick look and it looked about the same as it did after Tropical Storm Debby went through.

The News 2 truck was there and having trouble getting turned around.  I doubt they found anything news worthy here.

The beach in front of Mucky Duck.

The Captiva public beach access.

I just stepped out on the beach and got sand blasted from the wind, I saw no shells, so I turned and went back to the car.

Just after we started back, we saw some police activity going on.

That is a NO PARKING area, there had been 5 or 6 cars when we had gone past before.  Now there were still 3 and I imagine they got a ticket.  Kind of ironic, since this spot probably has more NO PARKING signs than any place I've ever seen, at least 8.  Go figure!

We went home for dinner, then decided to go back to WG access 5 because it was time for low tide.  

As we drove out of the driveway, there were birds everywhere, feeding in neighbors' yards.

YES!

There were shells!

Nothing really great, but a lot of shells.

The blowing foam sometimes made you think it was snowing.

The air was full of salt water and the wind was VERY strong.  I couldn't keep the hair out of my eyes and my glasses got so much salt water on them I couldn't see.  So after about 20 or 30 minutes we headed for home.

 Notice that nice (the nicest shell I found) flat shell in the center of the picture.  My favorite kind!

(More on that later.)

A tulip hiding by the edge of the foam.

 A lady had a 5 gal bucket she was throwing lots of shells in.  She didn't seem to care what kind they were or what shape they were in.

But having a great time.

This is what the two of us carried home in our pockets.

That nice flat shell, I carried in my hand with my cell phone and my glasses, so It wouldn't get broken in my pocket.  I dropped it somewhere along the way, so it was lost. :(

But, it was a fun time and there will always be another.

(Maybe tomorrow!) 

There are a couple videos from the City.

One of the high tide on the road to the Sanibel Light House.

Video of Lighthouse Beach high tide.