Friday, March 28, 2014

Lover's Key State Park

Yesterday we took the trolley (.50 per person) to the south end of Estero to Lover's Key State Park.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/loverskey/

The park is comprised of 4 barrier islands and is VERY NICE.  Lots of walking and biking paths.  And as for seashells, it blew Sanibel away. The beach looked as though dump trucks had deposited loads and loads of shells.  The quality and variety were very good.





This is a Pen shell
Our shell booty


This is an Olive


 
 
 

Back at Ft. Myers Beach


Here at the Pink Shell Resort there is another Mainship 40 belonging to Barbara and John from Texas.  They have a most excellent dog named Shiner, after the Texas beer Shiner Bock.
 







If the winds are under 20 knots tomorrow we'll head to Naples.  

Monday, March 24, 2014

Captain Scruffy

John has grown an "I-just-retired beard" and my mother thinks he looks scruffy.  I think he looks "Hemingway-esque".  What does everyone think?  Leave your vote in the comment section at the bottom of this post. 


3 Nights at Anchor at Cayo Costa

We really lucked out at Cayo Costa.  The weather was perfect and we were able to anchor in a super-protected spot. 

The whole island is a park and you can only get there by boat. No cars are allowed.  The beach is giant, we saw dolphins and manatees every day, and swam in the Gulf of Mexico. 


 
 
 
 
On Saturday we headed back to Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island for a week.  It's raining as I write this, and is supposed to rain off and on this week. 
 
 


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Captiva to Cayo Costa

We're leaving this morning on a rising tide to anchor for 3 nights at Cayo Costa.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/cayocosta/

A big storm came through Monday night, so Tuesday morning I went to the beach at low tide (the crack of 8:30 am) to do some shelling.  There were lots of tiny scallops but I haven't found any intact sand dollars yet. 







There were 5 or 6 manatees cavorting in the marina.  We've never seen that many at once. Sometimes they would lift their heads out of the water and touch noses :-) 









 

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Sanibel Island to Captiva

We reluctantly left the Pink Shell Resort on Friday and traveled 6 nm to check out Sanibel Island which is famous for its sea shells.  The shelling was amazing!



Don't know if the ruffley thing was a plant or animal - there were millions of them on the beach.


 
The beaches were sugar-sand, great for walking, and not crowded.
 
We biked all over on the excellent bike paths then had lunch on the boat. 
 

 



During lunch we had some interesting entertainment. There were 2 men on a boat behind us fishing for Snook and there was a dolphin hanging around their boat.  I asked the guy if the dolphin would take the fish off the hook if they caught anything, and he said dolphins don't do that. 

 
 
The egret was also hoping for a free lunch.
 
They caught a Snook but had to throw it back because it was undersize. The guy said they grow up to 33" long. 
 
When they threw the fish back the dolphin ate it!!!  The dolphin knew what it was doing.
 


After lunch and the fishing show we went to the eastern beach with the lighthouse (Ybel Point) and swam in the Gulf of Mexico.  The water is so shallow there that people can anchor their shallow-draft boats and walk through the water to the beach. 
 

 
 
It was a perfect day and we enjoyed our time on Sanibel. 
 
Today is Sunday and we traveled 13.9 nm to South Seas Island Marina on Captiva Island.  The wind is blowing 20 knots out of the south so it was a little rough getting here.  Tomorrow it will be the same with a chance of thunderstorms.  We'll be here for 3 nights.   
 

 

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Estero Bay

On Tuesday we traveled 15 nautical miles to the Pink Shell Resort on Estero Island. The beach here is called Ft. Myers Beach although it is not in Ft. Myers. There were SO MANY BOATS traveling it looked like opening day in Seattle. 



 
This boat said "Live Bait" on the side and other boats were rafted to it.
 
We are staying at the Pink Shell Resort and like it a lot. We rode our bikes to Bowditch Park (alas, no gators) and have been enjoying the pool and the beach. 
 



This is the view from the laundry room. Glory Days is the third boat from the left.
 
 
We had breakfast at Heavenly Biscuits recommended to us by Jane Rupp.  It was a long wait but excellent! The cinnamon rolls were better than Cinnabon. 
 
 
Tomorrow we're headed to Sanibel Island.