Day 13 Captiva 2019

Friday, February 15
Today was the first day I took a morning walk to the beach after coffee and pastries. Not much activity other than one gull and one boat while I was there about an hour at 10:00 am.

Passed this Great Heron on the street coming back from the beach.

After lunch, we spent some time at the pool  late afternoon relaxing and watchin the Eagle Nest.

A camera /camcorder has been attached to the tree over the nest since we were here last year.

I prepared dinner tonight-Breaded Chicken Tenders (from freezer) with baked potatoes and green salad.  We had a nice day with beautiful weather. Not missing the cold snow and winds back home.

Day 36 Captiva

Time changed today so we lost an hour!  Very cloudy this morning, temperature at 65 but it's suppose to be sunny and high of 72 today.  Enjoyed our coffee and pastries but I stayed inside.  Later I served breakfast of poached eggs, bacon, bagel, and grapefruit.  Seems to be our routine menu for breakfast.

We headed to the beach for a couple hours at noon.  More people than birds today and they were nosier than the birds.  We then headed to the pool for a swim and watched the eagles for awhile.  I made several photos of the nest but have not been able to catch an adult eagle in flight.

Video of the Nest

And the Resident Pileated Woodpecker:

Video of Woodpecker

Tonight for dinner, we had Grilled Giant Scallops by Grill Master Al served with lemon butter sauce, green beans, couscous and broiled Parmesan tomatoes.  Dessert was Key Lime Tarts from Bailey's Bakery.

 Photo Courtesy of Al

Day 19 captiva

Coffee with pastries from Bailey Bakery early this am.   I headed to the  beach around 8:30 and found a quiet picture of the gulf:

To view video if you open this in email,  go to blog by clicking link at bottom of email. 

Click on arrow:

Brown pelicans feeding at north end:

Thriller tour boat out early:

Sanderlings in the waves:

And then I spotted a group of seven female red-breasted mergansers swimming in the gulf: 

 

 They came as a group up to the shore line to feed, disappearing underneath the waves to fish.

And then they gathered back into formation and swam off in to the gulf.

To view video if you open this in email,  go to blog by clicking link at bottom of email. 

Click on arrow:

Al had his therapeutic massage at Tween Waters Spa at 10am.  I made him a grilled cheese with roasted red peppers sandwich and I had a ham sandwich.  The red peppers were from the ones that I bought at the Farmers Market and roasted.  I spent time blogging and Al, the laundry man, did some wash.   I took another walk on the beach about 4pm and captured these birds in photos:

Kestrel

 Willet

 Ibis

 Sanderlings

 Ruddy Turnstone

Checked in on the eagle's nest when was back at the cottage:

For dinner we steamed mussels in an Italian tomato wine sauce and served over linguini with arugula salad and ciabatta rolls.  Mussels from Timbers Seafood Market were large and delectable.  I always think of my sister, Cecilia, when we have mussels  because she likes them as much as we do!  Wish she was here instead of rainy Tennessee.

Day 3 Captiva

Captiva now has a Farmer's Market on Tuesday morning 9-1 am at South Seas parking lot.  So we gave it a try instead of going to Sanibel Farmer's Market last Sunday.   We bought tomatoes, red peppers, jalapenos,  radishes, guacamole, and mozzarella cheese but the cheese and guacamole werenot that good.   This market is much smaller than in Sanibel and not as good  a mix of food vendors.   We decided we would stick to Sanibel FM.

  After lunch of Grouper Sandwich for me and Ham sandwich for Al, we went to Bailey's Market for steak and seafood.  We bought Red Snapper  which we pan-seared for dinner served with lemon butter sauce and a side of couscous and green salad. Fish was delish!
Part of the afternoon was spent poolside with the eagles.  The weather has been perfect since we arrived....none of the cool/cold weather we had last February.

The young eagles seem to be talking among themselves as one of the adult sits by out on a limb.  Photos made from the pool about 4:30 pm.

Day 2 Captiva

Monday was another quiet day of rest and relaxation that began with coffee and bagels with cream cheese.  Made some pictures of the eagles nesting in the tree on adjacent property.  We have a great view of the nest from the pool as shown in these photos. There are 2 young eagles and we have seen 3 adults at the nest.

After lunch of turkey sandwiches with iced tea,  we spent the afternoon at the pool.   The pool heater does not seem to be working properly but the water is still warm enough.
Early dinner tonight at Lazy Flamingo at 5:00. We had our choice of seats at the bar as only 2 were occupied as well as most of the tables were empty.  But by the time we finished people were waiting to be seated.  We shared a dozen fresh oysters served on a bed of ice.  Al had fried oysters with French fries and coleslaw.  I had fried grouper with  the half Caesar salad and grilled garlic bread.  We shared both dinners enjoying everything as always.   I had grouper leftover for sandwiches another day. Enjoyed with beer.  Menu is pretty much the same but more wines have been added to the selection.

Not much of a sunset tonight as there was a cloud bank that moved in.  We were back home from dinner just after the sun set.

Day 32 on Captiva

Day with the Eagles

Early morning with coffee and then a quick walk for me. People are already gathering on the beach but no bird activity.  I did make some photos of the eagle nest.  One adult and one of the chicks were showing in the nest.

I worked on my blog and then we had an early lunch of tuna fish salad and sandwich with iced tea at the pool while we watched the eagles.  There was a lot movement and changing of places by all the family.

Both adults and one chick

Closer look at the adults and one chick

2 Adults

2 chicks...one in the nest and one on a limb

This chick looks about ready to fledge

We spent the afternoon at the pool enjoying the beautiful day and the new gazebo cover.

 

Dinner was panko crusted chicken breasts with stuffing and gravy(leftovers)  and Caprese salad.