Rainy Days on Sanibel

A few days ago a Tropical Depression formed, just south of us, and brought lots of rain. I'm not complaining because we needed the rain and it lowered the temperature a few degrees. Last time I added the amounts of rainfall, we had at least 6 inches and there has been more since.

We have guests that arrived on Monday and we've had no beach time until this evening. After a rain shower, we made a mad dash to West Gulf Drive and resident access 6. As soon as we got out of the car, we could hear loud wave sounds. But when we walked out to the beach, we were surprised that the waves were not bigger than they were.

There were shells at the high tide line, which had been higher than usual. We had been told about the higher tides washing out some of the sea turtle nests. There were areas on the beach that had a lot of shell crumbs and there were none anywhere near the water. When the waves came up on the beach, it looked shiny and smooth as glass.

It was very nice out, the wind made it cool enough and kept the noseeums away. It was a very relaxing and pleasant time.

Sunny Outlook on Sanibel

The low temperature last night was 56 and the high today 67. Even though there was no sun today, it was still easy to have a sunny outlook on life, if you were here at Sanibel. We only had a few raindrops, barely enough to measure. But, the afternoon clouds looked a little threatening, so I carried an umbrella with me to the beach, just in case. Luckily I didn't need it or the light hoodie I took with me.

At resident access 6 off West Gulf Dr, the water was pretty calm and there were only a few shells coming in. There were some shells left at the high tide lines and a few places where they had piled up, around access 4. I could see that some of them had been searched through, but just as many places had not. After walking east to access 3, I dug through some, but didn't find much I wanted. There were a lot of nice scallops, several nice size cockles, lots of other kinds and many broken ones.

Friends who walked about a mile west from access 7, said there was an area over that way, where there were some shells.

This was the scene at the end of resident access 6, just before I walked out onto the beach. (Take a close look at the flip flops.) Obviously this must have been left by a resident who has walked many miles on the beach, or maybe the brakes don't work and they have to stop by using their heels. :) At least they don't have to worry about anyone stealing their shoes before they get back.








A lone Cockle.

A Sanibel valentine?

I love looking at driftwood.



There was one treasure here, even though it had a tiny hole in it.





The water is 63 degrees now, but I would have thought it was a little cool to be out in bathing suits, playing around in it today. If you click on this photo you can see tourists making the best of the gray day.



The little birds on the left, made me laugh. They were hopping around on one leg for so long that you would swear they only had one. They stood for a while and then hopped down to the water and back up again. It wasn't until they actually got caught in the water, that they put their other leg down. It was really comical.



There was an eroded place on the beach, in front of Mitchell's Sandcastles, since we were there last. There was at least a 2ft drop off.













My handful from today.

A Warm Sanibel Saturday

Despite the sun's struggle to get through the fog again this morning, temperatures this afternoon managed to make it to 79 degrees. During the early afternoon, I walked out onto the beach from resident access 6, on West Gulf Dr. I looked in both directions and in the distance it looked like there was still some fog. It may have been sea spray in the air from the large waves, but there really wasn't any wind, only a slight SSE breeze. The waves were pretty big, but they were far between and the sound they made was relaxing. There were areas with shells, areas with only sand, and in other places the were only shell crumbs. I only picked up 4 small orange scallops and two augers. The warm temperature made it nice walking barefoot on the beach. The first time I got my feet in the chilly sea water, it took my breath away. After getting over that first shock, it didn't feel too cold anymore. I sure wouldn't want to get any more than my feet wet. :) After walking a little over two miles, I was getting hot and sweaty. This was an absolutely perfect winter day. It was obvious that everyone else on the beach thought so too.





Watching the waves, was very hypnotic. If I had brought my beach chair, I could have slept the afternoon away. :)



























Two Osprey were sitting on this tree, when one flew away. On the way back, I saw it return to the nest with a fish.

There's just something beautiful about a sailboat passing by.

Just west of access 7, the little birds were running back and forth trying to find something to eat, but not get caught in the waves.



Just before we left, the dolphins were very entertaining too.