Day 12 on Captiva Post 2

Pam and Mike, our friends and neighbors,  drove up from their "winter home" in Naples for a visit.  Mike has visited us here before but it was Pam's first visit.   After coffee and catching up with things,  we drove to Ding Darling for some birding about 11:45.  We spotted a lot of white pelicans, small blues, egrets, a few roseate spoonbills to name a few.  The white pelicans really put on a aerial show as more pelicans gracefully glided in and gathered on the sand bar.    The best sighting was a beautiful green heron on the shoreline near the drive.   We also saw 2 alligators sunning along the drive.

After our birding adventures we had lunch at Doc Ford's in Captiva.  Mike and Pam enjoyed tomato with basil soup and clam chowder and Fish Fingers.  Al had Fish Sandwich and we both had clam chowder.

After lunch we took a drive through Captiva pointing out places of interest .   Pam and Mike remembered the Bubble Room from a visit years ago .....seems like this is one of the places that time has not changed.

 

We took a walk on the beach and checked out the shells and birds.   It is still a bit windy and cool, and some, but not many, people are walking the gulf.   There were terns, both royal terns and what I believe to be sandwich terns, along with the laughing gulls and sanderlings.

 

 

 

We then headed back to the bay side dock to check out what was happening.   I was very surprised and delighted to find a great many White Pelicans hanging out on the sand bar.   We have never seen but 8 or 10 White Pelicans at the bayside and there must have 50-60 pelicans here today.

 

 

 

 We all agreed that this was an immature eagle on a sand bar in the bay.

 

 A Great Blue Heron landed near by at a neighboring dock.

 

Pam and Mike's visit ended much too soon and we look forward getting together for some more Florida Fun.  Pam left with a bag full of shells and hopefully a day of memories.

 

For dinner, Al and I went to our favorite dive, Lazy Flamingo,  for some oysters on the half shell and Blue Moon beer.  Al had the half  Caesars Salad with Blackened Shrimp (much better this time than the ones I had) and I had Grouper Cakes with fries.  The cakes are a new item on the menu and were very good.

 

Fresh Ice Cold Oysters