Day 14 0n Captiva

I was out to the beach early again to check for shells but found nothing but broken pieces and the birds were very few.  Where have all the birds and shells gone this February?

This is a photo of all the willets that were here last year.

 

2016

 

Our friends and neighbors from home, Mike and Pam,  arrived for a visit this morning around 11:00.  They are spending 2 months this winter in a condo in Naples about one and a half hour drive to here.  We settled in at the pool under the cabana catching up on life in Florida and other events enjoying conversation and the warm, but not sunny day. We had a lunch of sandwiches, potato salad, and ice tea at the pool while watching the eagles in the nearby nest. 

 

 

We spotted 2 chicks in the nest....up to now we had only seen one chick at a time as in the picture above and were surprised that there were actually 2.   The afternoon was a bit overcast with clouds but we took a walk over to the beach about 3:00 and found an almost deserted beach but we did spot a dolphin in the gulf.

 

 

We returned to the porch for gin n tonics and chips with salsa and more conversation.  Mike left at about 6 to meet his brother and his fishing buddies for dinner at the Timbers.  Al, Pam, and I went to Doc Ford's in Captiva for dinner.   The place was busy and we had an 18 minute wait for a booth but the service was friendly and prompt.  Al ordered a half dozen oysters on the half shell and Calamari salad -lightly battered calamari tossed with mixed Everglades greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, a sweet and sour vinaigrette dressing and topped with crispy wontons.  Pam ordered Ford’s Famous Clam Chowder-a rich, creamy chowder chock full of sea clams, sweet onions, carrots and diced potatoes and Captiva Crab Cakes-pan-fried beach-style, served with jicama cole slaw and finished with a  Key lime butter sauce.  I opted for the Chicken Taco Salad-crisp romaine lettuce tossed in avocado feta vinaigrette and topped with Jack and cheddar cheeses, Cuban black bean salsa, grilled chicken and tomato pico de gallo, surrounded by corn tortilla chips.    I liked my salad but prefer the Calamari salad which I nearly always order here.

 

We all four  arrived back at the cottage about the same time.  We spent the rest of the evening on the porch until Pam and Mike retreated to the bedroom suite downstairs. 

 

Note:   We have renamed the cottage to "Red Bucket" Cottage since we hung a red beach bucket to the post with the house number so that everyone can find the cottage more easily with this "landmark".