Sunday Sanibel Warming

This afternoon we went to resident access 3 on West Gulf Drive.  The sun was out and the temperature had warmed a little to 62, which was nice compared to the 41 degrees and cold wind last night.  It actually felt pretty warm on the beach. 

There were some shells in this area and several people were searching as they walked along.  I'm sure there were a lot of nice small ones, but I only picked up 3 small ones, because I didn't walk very far or look too closely. 

The reason I didn't spend too much time walking:

Today was the trial to see how Puffin would take to his new carrier pack.  He actually seemed to like it, so I didn't want to keep him in it too long the first time.  It was sure easier to take pictures with both hands, rather than holding him with one arm and the camera in the other hand.  He was constantly wiggling when I was holding him, in the pack he didn't do that. I think maybe he felt a little more secure, plus it was probably more comfortable than when I had a death grip on him to keep from dropping him.

Several of you have asked what kind of dog my Puffin is. He is a Lhasa Apso, weighs 5 lbs and will be 4 months old on Friday. Potty training is going very well, handling his little spit fire temper and getting him to understand he isn't the boss, not so good. But, we're working on that. He lives for his treats, so that makes it all a little easier.

When we got back home, he was happy to run and play with his toys.  After he wore out, he took a little break by laying on the bird's cage covers.

 

He and Lexus spent a little bonding time together.  Lexus was quite happy to stay in his carrier and talk to Puffin.  I don't think he understood why he got no answer when he kept saying, 'Hello'.

Sunny Sanibel Tuesday

  It's been a beautiful, sunny day, with the temperature in the 70's.  Our night time temps for the last couple of nights have been near 60.  Perfect for me. :)

This evening we went to resident access 3 on West Gulf Drive.  We walked for a while and kept an eye out for shells.  We had the beach nearly to ourselves.

 There weren't a lot of great shells, but I did the stoop and looked carefully as I walked along. 

There was some interesting  beach wrack, but  there is a bad smell from it now, as it's drying.  That usually only lasts for a day or so and within a few days or a week, this wrack line will probably be washed away or covered with sand.

I had a couple no-see-ums get on me, so I was ready to make a hasty departure!

The handful of shells I brought home.  My favorite is the solid dark brown Keyhole limpet.  I had never found one like this before.

A Relaxing Sanibel Evening

There's a really neat story that I think you would enjoy reading. It's about Oiled pelicans from Louisiana that were flown to Sanibel Island this morning for release into waters off Sanibel Island. A special Coast Guard flight left New Orleans around 7 a.m. and landed at Page Field in Fort Myers about 11 a.m. The pelicans were taken to Gulfside City Park on Sanibel Island for release. All the birds were successfully rehabilitated after being rescued from the oil spill in the gulf.

We made an evening trip to the beach at resident access 3 on West Gulf Drive. It was hot during the day, but by the time we got to the beach it had cooled down a little. It was just perfect, with a cooling wind blowing. To make it even better, the tide was really low, which made walking in the water very nice and relaxing. There were thousands of live Coquinas at the edge of the surf, but not many other shells in or near the water. There were some at the high tide line and I picked up a pocket full of ordinary shells to add to our give away container. Have to replace some now and then. :)


I didn't take pictures of the turtle nests, but I was surprised to see 7 or 8 of them in this area. The turtles were smart too, they made the nests up very high on the beach. I hope that will protect them from getting washed over this season, by high tides.






I don't know if it's just my imagination or if the beach in this area is getting wider and wider. I'm going to have to look back through my pictures to see what it looked like last year at this time.








what I found when I emptied my pocket. :)

Sanibel Friends

The weather has been very nice. The low was 75 last night and the high was 84 today with wind from the SSE. The downside to that was the 88% humidity. We have friends staying on island right now, so we went over to resident access 3, off West Gulf Drive, this afternoon.

We walked out onto the beach and looked each way, since we thought one couple would be around access 4 and the other couple around access 2.


The wind was really strong on the beach, as you can tell by looking at that umbrella. :)


We spotted one couple to our left so we started out in that direction, looking at the shells scattered along the way. The first time we looked down, there was a large shark's eye, just waiting for us. :)







Next I found a little Turkey Wing.

And then....a little mac'n cheese.





Yes....It is the famous Fish King, who appears to be sitting back, sipping on a cold one! :) And in the distance, I could see the infamous Shell Queen who was busily gathering seashells.

The 'Life Is Good' symbol.

Mr. Fish King had this view of his Pirate kite, on it's practice mission, before Mr. Harry arrives with his new kite.





Mr. Fish King was turning to show his catch to us.....



when the paparazzi came rushing over to photograph him with his catch. :)

Just after that exciting moment, a romantic gentleman walked over to hand this heart shaped scallop to me. :) Yep, only on Sanibel!

After a nice long visit, a couple of beers and lots of laughs, while sitting in the shade of the umbrella, it was time to part ways, leaving our friends behind to watch the sunset.




Sorry to end this on a not so pleasant note:


Received this email from the City of Sanibel today, May 04, 2010.

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Update #3

Additional Website Recommended for those
Monitoring the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

Currently, the City of Sanibel beaches are in pristine condition and are all open to the public. At this time, there is no smell of oil or burning.

The City of Sanibel recommends the following additional website for those monitoring the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill:

http://www.roffs.com/deepwaterhorizon.html

For the latest updates released by the Federal and State governments, please monitor the following websites:

http://www.incidentnews.gov/incident/8220
www.Deepwaterhorizonresponse.com

Sanibel Saturday - After The Rain

Today we went to access 3 off of West Gulf Drive again. It was sunny and about 71 degrees today. The island is really busy this time of year because of spring breaks. I'm sure the visitors this week will be very happy with the warm weather.


This bird was looking around, as if annoyed because we were intruding on it's peaceful afternoon.



Two cute little girls were putting shells in their buckets. :)