Day 38 Captiva

Another cool morning on the island.  Spent lazy am with coffee and computers.   Went to Farmers' Market on Captiva at South Seas Resort.  Very busy, no parking near SS so we parked at the Post Office ...bought some stamps....and walked to the market.  Ended up not buying anything even though we wanted tomatoes, but vendor was too busy doing other things than taking care of paying customers.  We decided to have lunch at Doc Ford's in Sanibel since we could not park at the one in Captiva.  Had a nice lunch on the outside terrace at a sunny table looking on to Tarpon Bay Road.   Al ordered 1/2 dozen raw oysters and I ordered Fish Fingers served with tartar sauce.  We both had bowls of clam chowder.  Then we went to Bailey's General Store for just a couple of items....were very busy ....waited in check out line longer than it took to shop.  We drove to Tarpon Bay Explorers at end of the road.....usually a good spot to look out over the bay at birds and wildlife and shop the neat gift shop.....but the place was under construction and the observation area was blocked off.  Gave up on that idea and drove back to the cottage.

We walked over to the beach about 4:00.  Even with the cool winds, a lot of people on the beach and some swimming and surfing.  The Thriller passed by at the end of their tour.

People at the beach:

 Two Surfer Dudes in the Waves:

 This Dude was reading:

Only a few birds: 

Strong waves brought in debris to shore:

We stopped at the pool to check out the eagles' nest:

For dinner, I roasted red snapper with panko crust and served with baked potato and arugula salad.  Tried a different recipe for roasting instead of pan frying.  It was just as good but took a little longer.  

Day 37 Captiva

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Monday, Monday, can´t trust that day 

Monday, Monday, it just turns out that way
Oh Monday, Monday, won´t go away 

Monday, Monday, it´s here to stay
Oh Monday, Monday  Oh Monday, Monday.....

 Cloudy Morning Sky

Thought I'd start this post with a song.....just popped in my mind.  This Monday was a cloudy day as you could see in the video that I captured about 8:45 or was it really 7:45?   Hate that time change thing.  Nothing going on at the beach except high waves and one lonely walker and me.  Back to the cottage for more coffee and a pastry.  We spent most of the day inside.  Made hot roast beef sandwiches with horseradish sauce for lunch from some great leftovers from The Mad Hatter.

Al and I went over and sat on the beach for a very short while around 2:30.  Still very windy....watched the waves and a kite surfer who was very good. 

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Afternoon Sky

For dinner I made Shrimp Scampi with Roasted Red Peppers over Linguini and served with green salad and wine.  Al had more of the Key Lime pie.

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 35 Captiva

Another cool morning and a bit overcast! Today begins our last week.....went by too fast!  We left for the Bailey Tract abut 9:30 and took a shorter walk than usual as it looked like rain was on the way.  Not a lot of birds but did see where they have started restoring  some of the original freshwater marsh habitat with heavy equipment. We saw lot of ospreys flying over head and circling  one of the pond areas.    Saw Great Egret, Ibis,  blue herons and  mottled ducks, snowy egret, and more.

Bailey Tract

Near the emtrance:

In first pond:

Along the Tract:

Lot of Ospreys seen:

More Mottled Ducks:

Spotted the Stokes on the trail:

Turtle, Flowers, and Butterflies:

And a Rice Rat scurried over our path on the way out:

We ate lunch at Over Easy Cafe

Al ordered Nova salmon layered with tomato slices,  red onion and capers served with a toasted bagel  and cream cheese.  I had half of a tomato stuffed with tuna salad.  We then shopped at Bailey's General Store across the street.  We made a drive through Ding Darling instead of going straight home. It was a quiet drive and we saw these views on a cloudy day:

 Video of White Pelicans Feeding:

Video of Ibis Feeding on Drive

We arrived back at the cottage just as it began to rain and it rained all the rest of the day.  Spent the afternoon reading.  We had a simple dinner of beef hot dogs and fried okra.