Day 39 Captiva

We were up very early this morning before 6am.  I walked to the beach at daybreak and found a very quiet beach....thought I might find shells but there were none there.

Early Morn at the Beach Video

 Looking back from the beach at daybreak:

After coffee, we decided to take a drive to Ding Darling about 9:00.  As we were getting in the car, Al spotted a construction nail in the front tire on the driver's side and that changed our plans.  After checking online we found a service station on Sanibel that did tire repair so we headed there which was located almost at the causeway.  The guy at the Chevron station did a quick repair and we were on our way in about 15 minutes!  This station appeared to be a busy place with cars being serviced in both garages and rental cars lined up on the side.  They even offer full service at the gas pumps.

The station was close to Bailey Road which goes to a beach so we decided to check that out since we have never been down that road.  It goes to a spot that over looks the causeway:

We then went to Bailey Homestead since we were close to the location.  Arrived about 10:20 to take a walk on a cool but sunny day.

Manmade Lake by the Homestead

 Red Pileated Woodpecker

Video of Woodpecker

Saw lot of brown pelicans, cormorants, anhinga, ibis, great egret, snowy egrets, one green heron and one eagle 

 Eagle with pair of Killdeer and Ibis

And lovely wildflowers:

From the other side:

And in the water:

 Turtle:

 Alligator:

Video of Alligator:

 A Monet painting?

Back to the cottage for a lunch of fish sandwich for Al and turkey sandwich for me.  

Spent just a few minutes on the beach late this afternoon.  Saw 3 kite surfers in the gulf....very windy.  Made a quick video but it was hard to hold the camera steady in the wind.

Video of Kite Surfer:

                                 

We dined in tonight.  I prepared Chicken in Whiskey Cream sauce(instead of brandy)  served with rice and arugula salad with Parmesan cheese and lemon vinaigrette.  Today ended well even though we had a rough start to the day.  Glad we found the right man at the Chevron station.