Day 15 on Captiva

My Sunday morning began with a walk to the beach just at sunrise.  Al was already on the porch with his coffee.  Again the beach was quiet but I enjoyed the walk and took some  photographs.

 

 When I got back to the cottage I snapped some shots of the nest.  Only this chick was seen.

I saw that Pam was up and Mike had already gone to Jensen's to  pick up his brother, Fran. Pam and I joined Al upstairs and had coffee while we waited for Mike and Fran.  After we became acquainted with Fran and had more coffee with pastries, bagels, and fruit, we went outside to check on the pool and the eagle family on what was a beautiful day-warm and very sunny.  It was an enjoyable morning keeping a watch on the nest and hanging out poolside.

 

 The five of us then took a walk up the street to take a view of the bay from Margarethe and Rene's dock.  There was one white pelican, who soon flew away, along with terns, gulls, and brown pelicans sitting on the sand barge.  A fishing boat with some people was anchored near the deck.....we watched as a swimming brown pelican tried to steal a sheep head fish from one of the fisherman as she pulled in her line but the pelican lost.

 

 Some of the scenery along the way:

 

After our walk we all decided it was time to eat breakfast or lunch.   We went to the nearby Sunset Grill just beyond the Blind Pass on Sanibel Island.  Our timing was perfect as we had no wait and arrived just ahead of the lunch  crowd

 

Mike and Fran each ordered corned beef hash and two eggs. Pam ordered cakes and eggs-two buttermilk pancakes, eggs, hash browns and meat of choice. Al had his usual order of Bagel and Lox-toasted bagel served with smoked Salmon, tomato slices, capers, onions, and cream cheese.    I ordered Eggs Captiva -homemade crab cakes and poached eggs on a toasted English muffin

\ topped with hollandaise sauce which was enough for two people.  I should not have ordered so much.  The food and setting was delightful and a good breakfast was enjoyed by all.  This restaurant certainly has an island feel about it and a great view as well.

 

Mike and Pam said their farewells and then headed with Fran in tow to visit Mike and Fran's sister for dinner before driving back to Naples.  We enjoyed their visit but it was much, much too short.

 

Al and I then took a drive through Ding Darling.  I will continue in another post with more details on the rest of Day 15.

Video of Dock on the Bay

This is a video of photos taken Bay Side on our stay in Captiva Feb-Mar 2016.  The highlight was seeing Dolphins feeding there one day. Click on the arrow to view.
You must go to the blog to play videos. http://captivadays.blogspot.com/

Day 37 on Captiva

Today I began with an early walk to the beach and on the street near where we are staying and made some photos of the quiet morning beach.

 Beach ready for People

Passing Boat

 View of a Beautiful Day

 

 Walk to the Beach

 

Spotted this Early Bird

I returned and made breakfast of poached eggs, toast, grapefruit with orange juice.   We then made a short visit to the bay to find only a few Brown Pelicans but no White Pelicans today.

Off to the beach for a couple hours sunning and reading.   Al also listened to the radio with his Bluetooth earpiece.  

Since it was such a beautiful day, I decided we should take in the sunset at Ding Darling with the White Pelicans and the Roseate Spoonbills.   I was a bit disappointed there were only 2 Spoonbills present as we usually see a large gathering of Spoonbills at sunset.   But we are always thrilled at the sight of these colorful birds and enjoy taking their photograph.

 

 

 

 

As we approached the end of the drive, we spotted a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron feeding and I got these photos:

 His red eye seems to glow.

 

We had a late dinner of a casserole of Ground Beef, Tomatoes, Garlic, Onions, and Noodles with green salad and hot roll.

Day 19 on Captiva

Today began early as usual with our coffee and pastries.  I skipped my walk on the beach and worked on a couple of cards and Al enjoyed his time on the porch.  For lunch I made Matzo Ball soup using Manischewitz  Mix which was a nice change on a coolish day.

We drove up to Chadwick Square Shops for a look around I purchased some Sea Glass earrings at the Beach Life.

We then made a stop at the Island Store for some provisions and headed back to the house.

It was a bit windy for the beach so we spent some time at the dock on the bay.   A young pelican was resting on the dock as we approached and did not budge from his spot on the dock.

He sat quietly while we photographed these birds:

And he was still there when we left the dock.

 

We watched the sunset around 6:20ish and Al made these shots:

 

I videod the last few seconds of the setting sun.
If you are seeing this in an email,
you must go to my blog using the link below
 and  click on the video to view.

 

For dinner I prepared Shrimp with Red Peppers, Mushrooms, and Garlic and served over a bed of Grits made with Mozzarella  Cheese.  This went nicely with Arugula Salad and glasses of wine.

Day 18 on Captiva

Early birds on the beach:

It rained most of the night.....sounds of heavy rain and wind woke us up several times.  I took an early walk to the beach but no signs of any shells from the storm so I walked over to the bayside just as birds were congregating after sunrise.

 

I made a couple of videos of the activity of the birds:

 

I played making  some  cards and Al paid bills and checked out weather at home.  For brunch I made a pasta omelet using leftover pasta from last night and served with bacon and toast with orange juice.

We spent time at the beach enjoying another lovely day .......only a few birds but more people walking on the beach today, some with dogs.  After a couple hours here, we checked out the dock on the bay where fishermen were anchored near by the dock.   Several brown pelicans were busy feeding.

I tried to catch birds in flight and did capture this osprey shown on left.


For dinner tonight I made the  Crispy Italian Chicken Topped with Mozzarella again  and served with fresh asparagus with lemon butter and baked potato with butter and sour cream.   Very good....so crispy and easy to make.

Just a Note: This is what the weather is like at home.
Bob sent us this photo of the snowy weather :