Day 24 Captiva

Bouquet from Farmer's Market

Presidents Day is usually very busy and crowded on the Islands but the beach was not very busy....almost had to it ourselves. This morning started slowly ....checked on the cats and bird that we are sitting. Coffee as usual with biscotti . Decided to avoid the holiday traffic by staying by the pool and beach. Did some reading, surfing - on the web that is - napping for Al. Even did an easy dinner of Buitoni Beef and Sausage Ravioli with Marinara Sauce right from the refrigerated packages at the grocery. Served with mixed greens, radishes, red onion, celery, and red pepper salad. A bottle of Santa Margaherita Chianti Classico  made the dinner more enjoyable.

Day 23 Continued

While we were at the beach on Sunday, several schools of fish swam close by to the shoreline. As they went by,the fish jumped high out of the water. This occurred several times as we watched. I tried to capture this on a video because it was so interesting to see. Click on the video to watch.

Day 23 Captiva

Early up on Sunday and we were off to the Farmer's Market after a quick breakfast of basted eggs and toast. It seems there was more traffic at the market this week probably because of people also attracted to the island for the Arts and Crafts show at the community center.  We bought some red snapper, tomatoes, bread, and flowers...a beautiful bouquet of red glads. There were a lot less flowers this week compared to the large variety last weekend for Valentine's. We then drove to the Arts Show .....what a traffic line .....the parking was full.... so we parked at the Periwinkle Shops (stores not opened yet)  nearby and walked to the show. Great array of artists and craftsmen from all over the country. There were more vendors that last year and most seemed to be upscaled over last year's. We bought some pottery from  an artist from St. Petersburg and some hanging art glass with metal ...a hummingbird and a dragonfly. Enjoyed this show more than in the past....both because of the weather and the artists.

We were back to the house about 1:00 and shared a sandwich and chips. We then headed to the beach...not very crowded for a Sunday.....and read and enjoyed the sun and ocean breeze.

It was a beautiful and warm day.....

and the living is easy and the fish are jumping high....

Oh, daddy's rich......and mama's good looking.......

Fish a Jumpin'

Click on the picture to see a closeup of fish jumping.

Day 22 Captiva

We both slept until 8:00 today later than usual. We are cat and bird sitting for Marguerite while the family is in Canada for the weekend so we went over to feed and water the pets. We walked over the bridge to the store at Castaways Marina and found a canvas straddle bag to use on a beach chair to hold Al's radio, phone,and other items.

Scene at Castaways Marina

Scene at Castaways Marina

Miville House from the Bridge

 We spent the afternoon at the beach resting and enjoying the beautiful day.


Willets are walkin'



 We had planned to go to dinner at Ellington's Jazz Club but the answering machine had a recorded message that they are temporarily closed due to repairs to the fire suppression system...hoping this not lead to a permanent closing. We have not been able to find out more
details. Instead we went to the The Mad Hatter, which is very close just over the bridge. This was our most favorite restaurants for many years but lost our favor a few years ago when it was sold. It was sold again in 2009 and has almost been returned to its original state of great food and service. It does not have the creativity and unusual ingredients of that chef who was quite an innovator of food. New owners are Kurt (the chef) and Michelle Jarvis We were very pleased with our visit. We arrived early for our 6:45 reservations so we could watch the sunset at 6:25 from the back parking lot of the restaurant.


Sunset from Mad Hatter Parking Lot



The greeting at the entrance was welcoming and our waiter was excellent and very attentive....this dining experience was the exact opposite from the Sunshine Seafood Cafe. Our wines served by the glass were very generous servings. The bread was a delicious ciabatta served with butter as well as an olive tapenade. The chef also sent out a complimentary tasting of a pate with mustard sauce. We ordered Truffled Oysters appetizer to share....this was roasted oysters, truffles, garlic, lemon,
thyme beurre blanc served on very hot shells. Excellent start! We shared a Spiced Watermelon Salad made with roasted pine nuts, cayenne pepper, fresh mint, feta cheese, and organic baby arugula. Very good! Al ordered Grilled Filet Mignon served with Bearnaise sauce and yucca fries. This was perfect and the yucca fries were crisp and delicious. I ordered Black Grouper which was pan seared topped with lemon and caper butter. Served with delicious asparagus risotto and asparagus. Both dinners were outstanding! We finished with French pressed coffee and were tempted with dessert but passed. This is an excellent restaurant and is pricey but well worth the expense of great dining.



The Mad Hatter



Day 21 Captiva

We were up early and packed a picnic lunch and headed to Ft Meyers. We stopped at the Tangers Outlet mall and checked out the stores. Then we headed to Six Mile Slough to do some birding. Ate lunch at the picnic area at the entrance. We have been here many times and our visit is always different. At the beginning at the walk is a lake where they have platforms in the water....on one of the platform was an alligator sunning and on the other were several turtles. Under the deck where we were standing was a baby alligator swimming.

 On the boardwalk we spotted a Palm Warbler, a blue heron and a great egret landed on the railing nearby. We also saw ibis, yellow crown night herons, anhingas, and ospreys.

 Our best sighting was a black crowned night heron out in the open on roots of the cypress trees. He was a very large bird and this heron is not often seen in the open,but mostly tucked away in the shurbs.

After more than 2 hours in the slough, we headed to Publix to shop. We must have been hungry because we bought a lot. Stopped at Wings, store in Sanibel, to find croakies for Al's new sunglasses. Arrived back at the house about 5:00 both tired from the day.

Made an easy dinner of fresh made sushi-salmon and tuna sushi and salmon rolls- purchased at Publix and a PF Chang dinner of Shanghai style beef with red peppers and green beans served with rice. These frozen dinners are very good and only take a few minutes to prepare. We enjoyed dessert of Italian Wedding cake from Publix bakery....very good!

Day 20 Captiva

This morning, we had toast, juice, and coffee and headed out to Ding Darling for the low tide which makes for great birding.  We saw many of the wading birds in numbers. There were many roseates, blue herons, tri-colored herons, reddish egrets and several  great blues in additon to brown and white pelicans. Not many ibis were here which we also usually see in numbers.

Anhinga

Reddish Egret

Brown Pelican

Roseate Spoonbills

White Pelicans in Flight Formation

 The highlight of the drive was spotting the mangrove cuckoo in a clump of Mangroves near the dike entrance. This bird created quite a stir as everyone was trying to capture a sighting ( probably a life sighting) or take a  picture. Even one of the wildlife employees stopped her truck ( a no no)  in the road backing up traffic. She had stopped to get people out of the middle of the road and she herself got caught up in the excitement of seeing the bird. We had seen the mangrove cuckoo before several years ago near the entrance to the drive, but it was exciting to see again.  This is not a rare bird but it is rare to see so much in the open sitting for such a long time. Pictures below:

Mangrove Cuckoo

Back to the house for lunch on the porch and then out to the beach. We saw a big black snake run across the path as we approached the beach.  Beautiful day at the beach....in the hi 70's.

We decided to go  to dinner at Sunshine Seafood which used to be Sunshine Cafe and that was a big mistake....one of the worst dinners ever on the Island.  This used to be a great restaurant but has changed ownership....still has the high prices but not the quality, quantity, or great service of the former place. Our waiter was not attentive....should have known we were  in for a bad experience when he showed a lack of attention while taking our order. He was looking all around as if his mind was somewhere but with us. We ordered wine and for the price they charged by the glass it was very skimpy.....all wine prices were a bit exorbitant. We had a long wait for our salad....the place was not that busy.  We shared Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese Salad of mixed Baby Greens tossed with a Mango Vinaigrette, Vine Ripe Tomatoes, Red Onions, Carrots and Apple Slices topped with a Piece of Warm Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese. It was good, not great, but the waitress tried to take mine away before I finished.   Al ordered Shrimp and Scallop Scampi-Linguine tossed with Scampi Butter, Snow Peas, Asparagus, Jumbo Shrimp and Dry Sea Scallops sprinkled with Fresh Parmesan Cheese and Fresh Herbs. It was not served with linguine but spaghetti and was bland...no sign of garlic or cheese. When Al complained to our waiter ( who we had to motion over since he never checked if our dinners were satisfactory) that he had ordered a dish with linguine, the waiter replied...well, it is pasta, isn't it? And then walked away.  I had ordered the salmon blackened and grilled served with risotto. I had said I did not want it spicy but was it ever so spicy.  The waiter had said it could be done without the spice. The risotto was just rice cooked with mushrooms...no creaminess or cheese...would not call it risotto.  When our bill came, the waiter had charged for a vintage of wine other the one  that Al ordered...of course a more expensive one. At least he responded by removing the charge for Al's wine. We have moved this restaurant to our "List of Never to Eat or Recommend Places".  One of our worst dining experiences in Captiva. To make  it even worse, we think it was the manager who was our server based on the bad reviews we have since read.

Day 19 Captiva

Slow start to our day. Breakfast of bagels and eggs. This was a even better afternoon at the beach with temperatures rising....not so windy. We both spent time reading....Al is reading Sue Grafton's "U is for Undertow" and I read James Patterson's "The Postcard Killers" which Al has just finished.
Dinner tonight was one of Al's favorites, Chicken Puttanesca served over linguine with salad. He gave it 5 stars!  Problem again with losing internet connection. That's all to report today.